David Lemieux is waiting on HBO to see if he will face Curtis Stevens

Photo by Naoki Fukuda

Aug

Photo by: Tom Hogan/ Golden Boy Promotions.

David Lemieux’s surgically-repaired knee is fine but negotiations for him to face Curtis Stevens in the fall appear to be at a standstill.

Lemieux’s manager, Camille Estephan said he was still waiting to hear back from HBO to see if they will lend their financial might to a Lemieux-Stevens matchup for Oct. 22 at the Bell Centre in Lemieux’s hometown of Montreal. If HBO decides to pass, then Estephan said a different opponent will be chosen for Lemieux in line with a reduced budget. He declined to say who else is being considered if it’s not Stevens, but he admitted he’s in discussions with other possible opponents. The good part, at least, is that both knockout artists want the fight if HBO does come on board. A spokesman for HBO didn’t immediately return an email for comment.

“Stevens wants to fight Lemieux and Lemieux wants to fight Stevens,” Estephan told RingTV.com on Tuesday. “But we would have to depend on TV for that and the TV is not done yet. So there’s other opponents that we’re speaking to given the fact that we haven’t finalized the deal with the TV, and it’s a fight that takes on a TV budget. So that’s where we’re at.”

Estephan hopes to announce Lemieux’s next fight soon, so there is ample time to promote it. “The Oct. 22 date is close,” he said. “Promoting a fight, ideally you have at least eight weeks so we’re past that so it’s imminent. We have to do a press conference very soon.”

The light heavyweight championship between Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward for Nov. 19 on HBO PPV has been finalized, so Estephan is hoping HBO can now turn its attention to this exciting matchup. “Now it seems to be settled,” he said, “So they have other fish to fry. I believe David Lemieux is one of the top TV-fighters. You can count them on one hand exciting fighters like this in the world so he’s made for that stuff.”

The former middleweight titleholder Lemieux (35-3, 32 knockouts) had knee surgery in July to repair a torn meniscus after his fourth-round stoppage of Glen Tapia in May, Estephan confirmed. The 27-year-old made a full recovery and has been back in the gym for two weeks and will be ready for Oct. 22, according to Estephan. “He’s doing very well,” he said, “and is already in training camp.”