by David P. Greisman

David Lemieux is coming off a loss to a fighter seen as the best middleweight around and perhaps one of the best in the sport today, Gennady Golovkin. But even after that third defeat on Lemieux’s record, his manager thinks the 27-year-old former titleholder can aim for another shot at a belt.

But first comes a March 12 fight in Montreal against James De la Rosa.

“The most important thing is to get him back in the ring soon, quickly. He fought in October. We wanted to get him back in the ring as soon as possible. He’s physically great, mentally great. Golovkin fought a perfect fight. We want to build back up,” said Lemieux’s manager, Camille Estephan.

“I compare it to the Stanley Cup Finals. If you make it to the finals and lose in the finals, it’s not the end of the world,” he said. “It doesn’t mean you’re a bad team. With us, we fought I think one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world today. We lost to him. David did not look out of place. I’ve never seen Golovkin use his jab as much as he did, so he showed a lot of respect to David, to his power. We learn. It’s like going to Harvard in one night. We’re going to come back much stronger.”

Estephan listed three names: Billy Joe Saunders, Daniel Jacobs and Canelo Alvarez if Alvarez fights at 160.

“Anybody with a title,” he said. “There’s a plan that we have put in place and are going to follow.”

Of course, one of those names may not be viable. Jacobs is with manager Al Haymon, with whom television network HBO presently has no working relationship.

“We have a great relationship with HBO,” Estephan said. Alvarez is tied to HBO but may face Golovkin later in 2016.

“There’s a lot of politics. You got to keep working and things change fast.”

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com