David Lemieux-Tureano Johnson joins Canelo-Fielding

David Lemieux will once again serve as accompaniment for Canelo Alvarez. TVA Sports reports that the Canadian slugger, who dispatched Spike O’Sullivan on the undercard of Alvarez’s September 15th victory over Gennady Golovkin, will face Tureano Johnson on December 15th at Madison Square Garden.

Yves Ulysse Jr., who dominated the favored Cletus Seldin on the card that saw Lemieux fall to Billy Joe Saunders, will appear as well against TBA.

Lemieux (40-4, 34 KO) had been floating a potential move to 168 pounds after persistent struggles with the middleweight limit, but had no issues making 160 against O’Sullivan, who lasted only 2:44. I’d imagine he’d be happy to move up against Alvarez, especially since he’d actually be the taller man in that matchup.

Johnson (20-2, 14 KO) put a controversial stoppage loss to Curtis Johnson behind him to win six straight, setting up an eliminator against Sergiy Derevyanchenko in August of last year. “The Technician” wound up breaking Johnson down en route to a 12th-round stoppage. He has not competed since.

Johnson’s right on the borderline between “simple tune-up” and “potential disaster.” The Bahamian has some skills and withstood a lot of punishment from Derevyanchenko before going down. Still, Lemieux’s not the kind of guy to break a hiatus against, even if Johnson does have three inches of reach on him.