By Luke Furman
It seems that former IBF middleweight David Lemieux can avoid surgery on his left shoulder. So much so that his team expects him to return on the Cinoc De Mayo date of May 5th, as part of the undercard to the Canelo vs. Gennady Golovkin rematch at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Lemieux has been bothered by the shoulder injury for a while, but he's going through rehab sessions instead of surgery - which would shelf him for at least 9to 12 months.
If all goes well with the shoulder rehab, Lemieux would fight for the third year in a row on an undercard for a Canelo Cinco De Mayo event.
Camille Estephan, president of Eye of the Tiger Management, says everything is looking good, so far, for May 5th.
"The initial results are very positive. If he continues to train without feeling pain, he will be in action on May 5," said Estephan to The Canadian Press.
"The problems always appear when David pushes the machine to the limit, which is why he completed his previous training camps without problems."
Estephan did not want to specify Lemieux's treatments, but he admits that it would probably be the last chance for his protégé to avoid surgery.
"It's an injury he's been dragging for a long time and it appeared that it didn't want to heal without surgery. With the new treatments, it seems to be working. We are crossing our fingers," Estephan said.
"It's premature to identify his opponent, but I can say that it would not be for a world championship."
The rumored opponent is Irish boxer Gary "Spike" O'Sullivan, who knocked out Antoine Douglas in dramatic fashion last December in Canada. On that same HBO televised card, Lemieux was dominated over twelve rounds by WBO champion Bully Joe Saunders.
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.