David Lemieux – Gabriel Rosado Fight Recap: Is Gennady Golovkin Up Next for Lemieux?

By Lou Eisen

Gabriel Rosado had the unmistakable look of fear etched on his bloodied and broken face in the tenth round of his mismatch with Canadian middleweight slugger David Lemieux this past weekend at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Rosado’s face was severely busted up by Lemieux in this one-sided, frightening beat down. Rosado had to have known as the fight went on and the merciless beating he was receiving from Lemieux continued unabated that any chances he may have had of pulling out a miracle victory were slim to none and slim had already left the building.

Rosado had conceded as much to himself. He just wanted to survive, not the round per se, but with his very life. Lemieux broke Rosado’s will to win early on in the fight. This was so much more than a fighter being viciously brutalized by the fists of a far superior opponent. In fact, it had moved beyond that realm in the third round, after Lemieux caught Rosado with a ferocious short, right hook directly on his left eye, instantly breaking his orbital bone and causing the eye to swell completely shut. Rosado had been reduced to a one-eyed punching bag.

At best, Rosado is a journeyman fighter who has had some good nights in the ring. Recently though, it has been all downhill for Rosado, the loser of three of his past four fights. Rosado did not possess enough power to earn Lemieux’s respect in the ring. More to the point, Rosado had nothing to offer from his limited arsenal to discourage Lemieux from taking him apart in such brutal fashion.

Did Rosado show heart and courage? Yes he did, and plenty of it, but so what? There is no such thing as a moral victory in pro boxing. That is why it takes a lot more than heart and courage to win a prizefight against someone of Lemieux’s talent level. It requires a solid strategy and a back up plan as well. Rosado had neither. It was not a case of being out of shape. Rosado was in good shape but he did himself a great disservice by having no current or specific game plan on how to fight Lemieux successfully. Also, improvising a new game plan or altering a current one during a fight is definitely not one of Rosado’s strong points.

That being said, part of the blame for entering the ring unprepared lies firmly with his new trainer, the venerable Jesse Reid. Reid is widely revered in boxing, and for good reason. The list of world champions he has worked with previously is limitless. Unfortunately for Rosado, Reid was having an off night. Reid constantly fed Rosado bad advice after each round. Reid’s advice may have been applicable for the 2011 version of Lemieux, but certainly not the new, updated 2014 edition.

After each round concluded, Jesse Reid exhorted Rosado to trade with Lemieux. Rosado would have been less hurt if he had jumped in front of a speeding subway train. Rosado faithfully followed his trainer’s orders by approaching Lemieux (who was loaded for bear) in a straight line (without showing him different angles or any head or shoulder feints) and trading shots with him. In other words, Rosado walked right into Lemieux’s comfort zone, thereby eliminating the need for the Canadian super slugger to cut off the ring. This allowed Lemieux to use Rosado’s own momentum against him, while still maintaining a high stamina level throughout the bout.

Rosado’s strategy was akin to bringing a water gun to the OK Corral and then challenging the Earp brothers to a shootout. Rosado, for some incredulous reason, was fighting to Lemieux’s strengths rather than his own. Many ringside observers were flummoxed by what they were seeing. The question on everyone’s mind seemed to be, why was Rosado slugging with a very dangerous and effective power puncher like Lemieux? Why indeed.

Rosado would have been much better served had he chosen to box Lemieux on the ring perimeter while utilizing his jab and longer reach to control the fight. Reid repeatedly accused Lemieux of fading in the later rounds. That is entirely incorrect. Lemieux used to fade late in fights, but after two consecutive losses in 2011, he changed his style, his trainer and, thanks to a full-time dietician, his diet. The change in diet vastly improved Lemieux’s ring stamina. Reid also stated that Lemieux was nothing more than just a one-handed fighter, who spends each round bombing his foes with only his right hand. Once again, Reid was spouting outdated information. Much of the damage that Lemieux inflicted on Rosado came primarily from his left hand.

Yet, as everyone saw, the exact opposite happened. Lemieux actually got stronger as the fight wore on. Well, almost everyone saw that. Reid somehow remained oblivious to Lemieux’s much improved stamina levels. One has to really wonder if Reid or Rosado watched any of Lemieux’s fights after 2011? Even a cursory viewing of some of his recent bouts would have shown Rosado and his team that Lemieux’s left hand is now just as dangerous, if not more so, than his fight-ending right hand.

The main problem for Rosado was simply that he did not possess the power or talent to back Lemieux up. One look at his face would have told you that. Yet, as round after bloody round ended, Rosado trudged wearily back to his corner only to hear Reid repeat his tired old mantra, “Back him up! Trade with him! Get inside his reach and tear him up!” That strategy was clearly not working and there was no plan B to fall back on.

Telling Rosado to get inside Lemieux’s reach in order to trade with him made no sense at all because Rosado is two inches taller than Lemieux with a longer reach. By endeavoring to get inside on Lemieux, Rosado was negating his own natural height and reach advantages.

Lemieux’s trainer Marc Ramsey did a splendid job of preparing his fighter for the bout. They had several strategies in place. Essentially, Ramsay kept Lemieux’s game plan simple. He told him to go in, lead with his jab, and destroy Rosado’s body with vicious left hooks to the liver and right hands to the spleen. Ramsay told Lemieux specifically, that after he unleashed his blistering flurry of punches, to take three or four steps back to prevent Rosado from countering him. The strategy worked very well and paid huge dividends in every round.

It was Rosado and not Lemieux who was beginning to fade badly. Why? Because being on the receiving end of a ferocious beating is quite exhausting for any fighter. The other problem for Rosado was that he was unable to establish his jab. Lemieux was timing Rosado’s jab perfectly, throwing his powerful right hand over it time and again. It didn’t take long for Rosado to completely abandon his jab altogether.

When a fighter is taking a particularly horrific pounding, his trainer must do the right thing and concede defeat so his fighter can live to fight another day. This was painfully obvious to everyone at the Barclays Center except Reid.

Lemieux laid a beating from hell on Rosado, who experienced the kind of defeat that not only destroys a fighters’ heart but also ends his career. Why inept referee Steve Willis took so long to stop the fight is anyone’s guess. A fighter that continues to receive unnecessary head trauma is only proving that his corner and the referee are out of touch with what is happening in the ring. If you require further proof of that assertion, I have two words for you – Magomed Abdusalamov. Enough said.