By Miguel Rivera
Last month, former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (37-3, 33 KOs) may have pulled off the 2017 'Knockout of The Year' when he knocked Curtis Stevens completely unconscious in three rounds.
Lemieux is now scheduled to return on May 6th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, in a ten round bout against durable contender Marcos “Dorado” Reyes (34-4, 25 KOs) of Mexico.
The fight with Reyes is going to be HBO Pay-Per-View co-feature to the highly anticipated Mexican showdown between Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
This fight marks the second year in a row where Lemieux appeared in featured position on Canelo's pay-per-view undercard during Cinco De Mayo weekend.
There are many industry experts who view Lemieux as a top frontrunner to land Canelo (48-1-1, 34 KOs) in September - if the Mexican superstar is unable to reach an agreement with middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.
Lemieux has now won three fights in a row since suffering a TKO defeat to Golovkin in the fall of 2015.
After his knockout of Stevens, the Canadian puncher had planned to go on vacation, but he quickly returned to the gym after manager Camille Estephan presented him with the opportunity to fight on the Canelo-Chavez card.
"I thought it was a great opportunity for me to fight on this card, so I said yes. I'll go on vacation later. In terms of weight, I'm exactly where I was a week before my last fight so it's very good news," Lemieux said.
Lemieux is well aware that he's under consideration to fight Canelo, but he won't underestimate his upcoming opponent.
"Any boxer, if you underestimate him, he can give you surprises. Sure it's not Canelo in front of me or Chavez or Golovkin, but he's a guy I have to take seriously," Lemieux said.
"I'm aware [that I'm considered a possible opponent for Canelo], but all of that can change with my performance in the next fight. Our goal is to fight against Canelo and I think people want to see this fight. It will happen, but we will see when and how."
