PHOENIX, Arizona | It was almost 9 a.m. when David Lemieux walked into the small cafeteria at the Residence Marriott in Glendale.
Dressed all in black, freshly showered, serious face, not very welcoming. Not too marked either. It was the forehead and a brow bone that seemed the most marked.
He sat down with his waffle, not wanting to talk. Not prank, far from it, but not the taste to talk. Even with the guys from his team who came to greet him. Sam, Hugo, Luc-Vincent, Virginia.
“David is a proud man. It’s hard on his ego, ”whispered Marc Ramsay seated a little further.
Marc had just said that David Lemieux had “babooned” to use his expression, following his defeat once morest David Benavidez. Lemieux was angry because Marc Ramsay had stopped the fight. The lionheart wanted to go on the attack once more, still hoping to reverse a dangerous situation.
“But when a boxer loses his legs, he can no longer defend himself and he can no longer attack with power. David was at risk to his health,” said Ramsay.
A COHESIVE TEAM
Ramsay got up and went to chat for a few seconds with Lemieux, the time to quickly swallow his waffle. And Lemieux got up to go meet his lawyer Anthony Rudman. We wanted to make sure that his scholarship would be well paid.
It was a little later that everyone sat down in a box at the restaurant to discuss the latest events without pressure.
Sometimes you win as a team and you lose alone. This time the team stuck together. And the guys weren’t shy regarding repeating how proud they were of their boxer. And the man with the balls of steel.
A MEETING THIS WEEK
Camille Estephan and David Lemieux were able to chat on Sunday morning. When I reached Estephan at the end of the day, he was waiting for a flight to Chicago.
“We knew it would be a very difficult fight. That the odds were not on our side. We have seen that David Benavidez is the best in the world at 168 pounds. Better than Canelo Alvarez. We hoped that David would touch him to shake him up and slow him down. The opposite happened. Benavidez’s left hook that rattled David was surgical. Perfect. From that second, David was in danger.
“But he showed incredible courage. Despite his condition, he was still the aggressor. He was hoping. But it is obvious that David Lemieux is a small 168 pounds and that once morest the big elite of this division, he is very disadvantaged. »
“We are going to meet this week. Take the time to reflect. David has been a professional boxer for 15 years. It’s been his whole life. Even thinking regarding retirement is a shock. His routine has always been training every day with a fight and a goal in mind. For the rest of things, if David decides to stop, we will supervise him, we will establish a plan. He is financially comfortable, he has a beautiful family, but it’s never easy to quit. Especially so young. But come what may, David Lemieux will stay close. David, it’s for life,” said Estephan with a lot of emotion in his voice.
“THERE’S TWO VERY BIG”
The promoter of David Benavidez was satisfied with his evening. Nearly 10,000 paying spectators proves the ability of the two Davids to sell tickets.
“But I’m disappointed with the fight itself. I thought Lemieux might hold out longer. But David hit him straight and really hard. Afterwards, it was a matter of time,” noted Sampson Lewkowicz.
But he still had good words for David Lemieux. Using his hands as if he were holding two cantaloupes, he added, “It’s a phenomenon. Him, we can say that he has two very big ones ”.
But we can’t say that’s a big consolation when it comes time to go home.
