David Lemieux Taken on 2 Knockdown 10 Round Split Decision Trip to Hell by Bursak
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Former middleweight contender and middleweight world title challenger David Lemieux, making a comeback returning to the ring after 14 months of inactivity, got taken on a 10 rounds super middleweight trip to hell by former world super-middleweight title challenger Maksym ‘Tiger’ Bursak, on December 7, 2019, at Bell Centre in Montreal.
Lemieux, 41-4 with 34 knockouts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, got dropped in rounds one and five against Bursak, 35-6-1 with 16 knockouts, Kiev, Ukraine. Lemieux knocked down Bursak in the sixth round, who got up and continued the slugfest of veteran ring warriors.
Lemieux, like Daniel Jacobs and other contemporaries in the 160 pounds middleweight division, was forced to move upwards in fight weight class to the 168 pound super middleweight division after being unable to make weight at middleweight anymore, causing messy legal snafus as bouts were cancelled, and being hospitalized for dehydration.
Bursak tagged the ring rusty Lemieux repeatedly with combinations and knocked Lemieux down in the first round. Bursak then staged Lemieux off the ropes, which should have been scored as a knockdown under boxing’s current rules as the ropes held Lemieux up, which would have resulted in a majority draw if scored as such. Lemieux was fighting in his hometown, and was the benefactor of this oversight. However, Lemieux was still in for a hell of a long night, getting an education in a weight class unknown and strange to him.
Lemieux rebounded with jabs, combination, uppercuts and body shots. Bursak countered well, and scored a knockdown again when he trapped Lemieux along the ropes, in the same way Lemieux did when he finished Curtis Stevens in 2017. Lemieux beat the count again, and reversed the approach, landing blows with Bursak on the ropes late in the fight, dropping Bursak for a flash knockdown with a left hand in the sixth round. Lemieux found a place for his hooks, but Bursak was tagging Lemieux with overhand right hands. Both fighters were reserved in the too close to call rounds eight and nine, conserving energy for the long haul, with Bursak sporting a mouse under his right eye. Lemieux rallied to win the tenth round. The scorecards were questionable. The bout could have gone either way. In the end Lemieux got a split decision in hell introduction to the super middleweight division.
Result: David Lemieux Win Split Decision 10 Mayksym Bursak, Super Middleweights
Scoring at Bell Centre: 94-93, 94-93 Lemieux. 94-93 Bursak. Referee: Michael Griffin.
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