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‘No choice’ but to win- Lemieux’s coach raises stakes ahead of Spike clash

David Lemieux won’t bring it to the streets in a fight he has ‘no choice’ but to win claims the former world champions coach Marc Ramsay.

The former IBF world middleweight champion fights Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan on the undercard of the massive Gennady Golovkin versus Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez undercard on September 15 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with most fans predicting a straight out shoot out.

Indeed, both noted punchers are predicting eye catching knockout wins and show stealing performances ahead of the mouthwatering match up.

Take into account the pair favour a seek and destroy approach and the fact Golden Boy’s Oscar De La Hoya has stated victory on it’s own won’t be enough to secure a shot at the winner of the main event and you have all the ingredients for a FOTY contender.

However, Ramsay, who just oversaw Eleider Alvarez’s WBO world championship win over Sergey Kovalev, has hinted a fighter that was completely out skilled by WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders last December will take a more cautious and calculated approach.

The coach, who will go up against Celtic Warriors Pascal Collins in the tactics battle, this week said the Canadian won’t drop to O’Sullivan’s ‘level’ on September 15.

“It is said that David has a higher skill level, that he is faster, and I am convinced that he punches harder than him, even if O’Sullivan is a good slugger. But we do not intend to go down to his level and fight a street fight with him. We want to force O’Sullivan to follow us in there.”

The manner of rather than the defeat to Saunders late last year has damaged Lemieux’s reputation at a time ‘Spike’s’ stock has risen to levels it has never seen before and while he stresses he wants to avoid applying pressure to his charge Ramsay has all but declared the French speaking Canadian’s career is on the line come September 15.

“We have to get past O’Sullivan, we have no choice,” Ramsey said to La Presse.

“But we do not want to put unnecessary pressure on him either. We identified the opponent, identified the risks, we did not fear to stir in the recent performances and we believe in gaining the victory. If we give the best possible performance in training and during the fight, we will win.”

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