David Lemieux: If David Benavidez wants a war, he’ll get a war

David Lemieux has a big opportunity this coming Saturday, as he faces David Benavidez for the interim WBC super middleweight title in a Showtime main event from Glendale, Ariz.

Benavidez (25-0, 22 KO) is a clear favorite in the matchup and has home field advantage, but Lemieux (43-4, 36 KO) does always bring the puncher’s chance to a fight, and though 33 isn’t necessarily old, it kind of feels like now or never if Lemieux is going to win at this level, which he’s failed to do in past matchups with Gennadiy Golovkin and Billy Joe Saunders at middleweight.

Here’s what we heard from Lemieux and trainer Marc Ramsay at Wednesday’s media workout.

David Lemieux

“On fight night I’ll be about 180 lbs. I don’t care what he is at. Maybe 190? It doesn’t really matter. I’ll be ready no matter what.

“If he wants a war, he’ll get a war. I’m strong and I’ve very confident in my abilities. I know he’s a very strong fighter, but we have a plan going in against him. We’re not worried and we will do what we have to do to be at our best on fight night. David Benavidez will have his hands full on Saturday night.

“If you know David Lemieux, he’s never refused a fight and he’s always taken whatever fight they put in front of him. When we had big fights in the past, we always took them. If you want to be a world champion, you have to fight the best.

“He’s a great fighter and you can’t take anything away from him, but he’s never fought David Lemieux and he will see what that means on Saturday night. I know what I’m going in there against. Does he know what he’s going in against?”

Marc Ramsay, Lemieux’s trainer

“Everybody knows David Lemieux is an aggressive fighter, and David Benavidez is an aggressive fighter. I don’t think either fighter will change that the night of the fight. That’s only going to give the fans an exciting and action-packed fight. Because of the style of both fighters, it only guarantees it will be a great fight.

“Benavidez is a complete fighter. He’s a big guy, he’s fast, and he’s also powerful. So he’s the complete package. But at this level everyone has the package to become the elite. You cannot escape from these big fights if you want to be world champion.”

Bad Left Hook will have live, round by round coverage for Benavidez vs Lemieux starting at 10 pm ET on Saturday, May 21.

Listen to our Benavidez-Lemieux preview and more on the newest Prophets of Goom podcast!

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