Middleweight contender Hassan N’Dam of France, criticized fellow IBF title challenger David Lemieux of Canada, during a conference call nearly a month before their scheduled bout, claiming that the latter never truly earned his shot at a world title.
“Man, you better get ready because the challenger spot you’re in, you didn’t earn it,” N’Dam warned Lemieux over the phone. “You got it by chance, by luck. I’m going to prove to you and to the entire world that you do not have the level of a world champion. When you had the chance to become mandatory challenger, you always blew your chances.”
N’Dam and Lemieux are set to square off on June 20th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. Although the fight will take place in Lemieux’s backyard, N’Dam said he has made a habit of overcoming hometown advantages. N’Dam believes come fight night he will be as comfortable as he is in his own home.
“Everywhere I fight, I feel like it’s my backyard,” he said. “I feel like I’m at home. I was born in Cameroon, but I made a name for myself in France. Today, I fight in LA like I’m at home. On June 20th, I’ll be in my room in Canada.”
N’Dam (31-1, 18 KO) momentarily held the WBO middleweight strap in 2012 before losing it to Peter Quillin (31-0-1, 22 KO), in Quillin’s adopted hometown of Brooklyn that October. The contest was Quillin’s best to date, and N’Dam’s lone blemish in which he was dropped six times en route to a unanimous decision loss.
“I fought Peter Quillin without being prepared. I had only a three-week notice, and I didn’t even do any sparring.
“The only reason I took [that] fight with a three-week notice is because they threatened to strip me from my belt, and since I am a man, if I was to lose my title, I thought I might as well lose it in the ring.”
Having trained over a month for his fight with Lemieux, a lack of preparation will not be a viable excuse for N’Dam should he lose.
Lemieux is a known puncher with 31 of his 33 wins ending in knockout. However N’Dam is confident in his ability to out-maneuver the middleweight slugger as he did in his most recent fight, a 12 round unanimous decision win over Curtis Stevens (27-5, 20 KO) last October.
As far as his gameplan for the fight goes, N’Dam is confident in the simplicity of his strategy.
“My strategy is very simple,” he said. “I’m a complete boxer. David Lemieux says that he’s different than what he used to be. But I am a very complete boxer, and I’m going to use all of the tools I have to beat him. That’s it.”
N’Dam also mentioned that he had been waiting a long time to lock down an opponent and that he is relieved to be fighting Lemieux. Not many men would be relieved to know they were walking into the lion’s den to fight a powerhouse like Lemieux, but that is what makes N’Dam interesting to watch. He said that he purposely missed a scheduled press conference in L.A. to prevent tiring himself out in preparation for his upcoming battle.
“I’m preparing this fight on June 20th. That’s my main focus, is to travel to Montreal, win the title and go home with my title.”
