MONTREAL - Former International Boxing Federation champion David Lemieux finds himself in a much smaller venue, with a lot less pressure and attention, than his last time in the ring.

On Saturday night, the Montreal middleweight (34-3-0) is scheduled to face American James de la Rosa (23-3-0) at the 1,302-seat Olympia Theatre, an ornate, 1925 movie house that has become a show venue and, for one night at least, a boxing arena.

In his last fight on Oct. 17, the 26-year-old Lemieux was getting rag-dolled in eight rounds in a packed Madison Square Garden in New York, live on the HBO network, by perhaps the world's best middleweight, Gennady Golovkin of Kazakhstan.

A low-key comeback was in order, although he will need to win the 10-rounder and come away with minimum damage to move back into the spotlight. He is expected to fight on a May 7 card in Las Vegas in which the feature bout is a showdown between Saul (Canelo) Alvarez and Amir Khan.

Lemieux said he will not take de la Rosa lightly.

"He's a very good fighter," the 26-year-old said Wednesday. "He's legit, and it's a very good fight to start back after Golovkin."

It would have been safer to wait until May, but Lemieux and his manager Camille Estaphan felt it was important that he stay busy.

"Everything depends on the de la Rosa fight, but we're maximizing things in the time we have," said Lemieux. "We don't want to miss the boat.

"We want to get back on top as quickly as possible."

Lemieux was on top when he downed Hassan N'Dam last June to take the IBF title, but then he put the belt on the line in his next outing against Golovkin in a bid to unify two middleweight titles. The Kazakh had won all seven rounds on all three judges' scorecards before the slaughter was stopped in the eighth.

Despite the beating, Lemieux is still ranked fourth in the world among middleweights by The Ring Magazine.

"We'll see how he does against de la Rosa but we want a world title fight," said Estaphan. "We're right there. We're ready.

"It's just a matter of finding an opponent with all the politics that exist in boxing."

De la Rosa has a decent record but has lost three of his last six bouts. Like Lemieux, he is coming off bad loss, a fifth-round knockout at the hands of Hugo Centeno Jr.

The Texan is aware he will be the underdog.

"I'm in boxing to fight the best," said de la Rosa. "I don't duck and dodge anybody.

"I'll fight anyone and it doesn't matter where it is."

Lemieux's trainer Marc Ramsay described de la Rosa as a technically skilled and smart fighter who is the ideal opponent to test the adjustments Lemieux has worked on since the Golovkin disaster. He hopes to show sharper defence, especially against the jab, and better ring movement.

While Lemieux will have home town support, de la Rosa should have the television audience. The card is on pay-per-view in Canada, but will be aired in Spanish on Fox Deportes in the United States.

The co-feature has a light-mddleweight bout for the IBF junior title between Steven (Bang Bang) Butler (14-0-1) of Montreal and Sladjan Janjanin (13-0) of Bosnia. Schiller Hyppolite (19-1-0) of Montreal faces Darnell Boone (23-24-4), the super-middleweight who once upset reigning WBC light heavyweight champ Adonis Stevenson.

The next Canadian with a world title shot is Kevin Bizier of Quebec City, who faces IBF welterweight champ Kell Brook on March 26 in England.