Former middleweight world titleholder David Lemieux, due to move up to the super middleweight division on May 4, has suffered a right hand injury, causing his 12-round bout with John Ryder to be canceled, Golden Boy Promotions announced Wednesday.
The Lemieux-Ryder bout was supposed to serve as the co-feature on the DAZN card headlined by the middleweight title unification fight between Canelo Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“It’s very unfortunate that David Lemieux’s return has been postponed, but this is boxing and these things happen,” Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez said. “We wish David a speedy recovery and look forward to his return, so he can make big waves at 168 pounds.”
Lemieux injured his hand during a recent sparring session, and his doctor recommended he rest it for eight weeks.
”Training camp was going really great,” Lemieux said. “I felt in tremendous shape; the strongest I’d ever felt in my entire career. But I will be back soon. Hopefully, the fans will understand. I promise I will make it up to them once I’m healed.”
It is the second fight in a row that Lemieux (40-4, 34 KOs), 30, of Montreal, has had canceled. He was due to face Tureano Johnson on Dec. 15 in New York on the Alvarez-Rocky Fielding undercard, but it was canceled on the day of the weigh-in because Lemieux was unable to make weight and was so dehydrated that he had to be taken to the hospital, which led to his decision to move up in weight.
Ryder (27-4, 15 KOs), 30, of England, will miss out on his biggest fight. Golden Boy said a new co-feature will be announced soon.