In a huge upset Friday night, previously undefeated middleweight David Lemieux was knocked out by veteran slugger Marco Antonio Rubio. The official time of the stoppage was 2:36 of the 7th round, and Lemieux’s corner had stepped onto the ring apron and called the fight off.
For Lemieux, it appeared to be a case of just perhaps too much, too soon. The 22-year-old phenom had Rubio in trouble early on, and appeared to be on his way to yet another first or second round KO. However, he couldn’t close the show, and Rubio kept on fighting through the first four or five rounds.
Lemieux was super confident and was in cruise control, however, Rubio was patient and by the 6th round was able to start turning things around. In the 7th, when he got his man hurt, he wouldn’t make the mistake of not finishing what he started. He sent Lemieux slumping into the corner, and the untested Canadian knockout specialist looked not only physically hurt, by shocked. He didn’t know how to react or how to survive when in that kind of trouble, having never been there. So Rubio continued to pounce on him and Lemieux’s corner stepped in to save their charge.
A tough ending for the super prospect, one of the best Canadian fighters in the game, but with his power and fan-friendly style, he will certainly be back. Being just 22, he has plenty of time to learn from this experience and become a better fighter.
For Rubio, he has now won his WBC title eliminator, and will be in line to face the winner of the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Sebastian Zbik fight. It also justifies Kelly Pavlik’s recent claim about the strength of his win over Rubio.
