HBO’s ‘Boxing After Dark’ returned to the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, New York this Saturday with a boxing triple header, headlined by Canadian power puncher, David Lemieux and Philadelphia native, Gabriel ‘King’ Rosado. A middleweight bout with big implications for both men, as Rosado looked to bounce back from consecutive loses and Lemieux looked to establish himself as a serious contender for the middleweight crown.

The styles of both men were evident from round one, David Lemieux coming out aggressively, throwing hard shots from the opening bell. Rosado was the more mobile boxer and looked to pick his shots from range. An even round one in which Rosado worked fast combinations up top and Lemieux focused on a more diverse attack, working the head and body.

The second round opened with David Lemieux again as the aggressor, looking to pin down Rosado in order to unleash his power strikes. Gabriel Rosado showed good movement on the ropes and slipped out anytime his back neared the ropes. The most effective punches in the round came from Lemieux, as he had success throwing a straight right to the body of Rosado on numerous occasions.

David Lemieux showed his biggest asset in round three as he landed a thudding left hook which wobbled Gabriel Rosado badly. Smelling blood, the Canadian fighter swarmed ‘King’ Rosado and sent him to the floor with a series of power punches. As Rosado got up from the count, swelling was quickly developing in his left eye. Lemieux continued his onslaught and showed his intelligence by going downstairs to the body of Gabe Rosado.

Following up on the success of the previous round, Lemieux came forth, charging at Rosado. Rosado showed he was still in the fight by fighting back and landing clean punches that caught Lemieux’s attention. The tide seemed to sway in Rosado’s favor for a moment until Lemieux landed a hard left hook that stunned Rosado. A back and forth round in what will undoubtedly be a candidate for 2014’s round of the year, showed a display of heart by two top level middleweights looking to climb up the rankings. The round concluded with Gabriel Rosado waiving Lemieux forward, daring him to come at him.

Gabriel Rosado was able to implement his strategy in the fifth round and used his movement to keep Lemieux at bay and avoid the power shots that he had been taking early in the fight. Even round, but Rosado countered well and did not endure much damage.

Questions about Lemieux’s cardio have been asked about the Canadian boxer ever since he suffered a seventh round TKO loss to Marco Antonio Rubio in 2011. Many analysts felt if Rosado could endure the early attacks, he could pick up the pace late in the fight and score a stoppage win as Lemieux tired. The sixth round showed that Lemieux had not wasted all his energy in the early rounds as he bounced back and took charge of the fight once more. A key to his attack was his body work, consistently battering left hooks to the liver in close quarters, which was taking away from the strength of Rosado.

Lemieux carried his high paced attack into the seventh round, still looking fresh, while Rosado began to look a bit overwhelmed. In the eighth round, Rosado was clearly well behind on the scorecards and had a good comeback round in which he let his hands go and was able to tame Lemieux for the round.

The ninth round brought more excitement as Rosado moved forward, looking to hurt David Lemieux. Both fighters had moment of success but the deciding factor was a left hook that Lemieux landed as Rosado moved in on him. The shot visibly hurt the Philadelphia veteran. Round ten was more or less a continuation of round nine. David Lemieux sensed that Rosado was hurt from the previous round and went for the kill once more. A crushing right hand to the jaw of Gabe Rosado gave Lemieux hope for a stoppage win. With each strike, referee, Steve Willis, moved closer and gave Rosado a closer look, as his left eye had badly deteriorated and he was absorbing many punches. Eventually, Willis had seen enough and saved Rosado from any more unnecessary punishment.

David Lemieux TKO 10

With the win, Lemieux moves towards a possible title eliminator or title shot against some of the elite fighters in the division. A fight with ex champion Peter Quillin, or Daniel Jacobs would be highly unlikely with those two potentially lining up a fight with each other next year. The best option for Lemieux to win a title fight would be by taking on the winner of next weekends Korobov-Lee bout that is being fought for the vacant WBO belt.

Another option that could present itself would be a potential fight against IBO/WBA middleweight champion, Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin. With HBO already pumping the hype train on Lemieux, it would not at all be a surprise to see this fight happen if Golovkin gets out of his February clash with Martin Murray successfully. Lemieux-Golovkin would provide fight fans with some early fire works and most likely an explosive finish.

Lemieux showed this past Saturday night that he is an improved fight compared to the way he fought in the past, but also showed that he has holes in his defense and limitations in his offensive attack that could prove to be disastrous, especially against a puncher like Golovkin. Even with the flaws in his game, he did prove once again that he packs a legitimate punch and against the right fighters in the weight class, he can use it to make an impact.