Lemieux vs N'dam official for June 20, U.S. TV still in the works

The vacant IBF middleweight title fight between power punching David Lemieux and former WBO titleholder Hassan N'dam is officially official for June 20 at the Bell Center in Montreal, to be aired on pay-per-view in Canada, with TV rights in the United States still being worked out.

Lemieux (33-2, 31 KO) will have home field advantage for the bout, which is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, who won a minimum purse bid for the fight, and Eye of the Tiger Management. N'dam (31-1, 18 KO) reportedly only took the fight because he was offered a substantial amount more from a third party than the purse bid guarantees.

Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy sees this as an exciting style matchup. "Hassan and David are both elite fighters in the middleweight division, both former and current title holders with fighting styles that will keep fans on the edge of their seats. This is just the kind of fight boxing needs to have; the fans want action in the ring and both David and Hassan are sure to deliver that."

Lemieux, 26, is happy to bring the fight to his hometown. "It was really important for my team and I to bring this fight here to Quebec," he said. "The fans here have supported me from the beginning of my career and for that I am extremely grateful. I want to live this significant moment of my career with Quebecers and will do all that I can for them to be proud of me. I am ready to offer the very best of myself. Those close to me and my fans will see all the blood they want!"

The 31-year-old N'dam, born in Cameroon and fighting out of France, vows to come home with the title. "I'm thrilled to be fighting for the middleweight championship," he said. "I've very thankful to King Sports for making this happen and I look forward to fighting in Montreal and leaving with the title."

Some of the names currently slated on the undercard are Dierry Jean, Schiller Hyppolite, Ghislain Maduma, Steven Butler, Mian Hussain, Ayaz Hussain, Yves Ulysse, and Mathieu Germain.

If the fight can't be sold to HBO -- who may have scheduling conflicts or just want to back off of Lemieux until a lawsuit between Groupe Yvon Michel and Golden Boy is settled -- Golden Boy has talked about seeing if FOX Sports 1 (which airs a lot of mid-level boxing and has a good relationship with GBP) would be interested in the fight.

One problem facing this fight with U.S. TV is that it's already kind of a stacked day, with BET jumping into the boxing game with a time-buy from Roc Nation, featuring Andre Ward vs Paul Smith, and a PBC on NBC card with Adrien Broner vs Shawn Porter also nearly finalized.