Andy Lee (boxer)
Andy Lee | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Andrew Lee 11 June 1984 Bow, London, England, UK |
| Nationality |  Irish |
| Other names | Irish |
| Statistics | |
| Weight(s) | Middleweight Light Middleweight |
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Reach | 75 in (191 cm) |
| Stance | Southpaw |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 36 |
| Wins | 34 |
| Wins by KO | 24 |
| Losses | 2 |
| Draws | 0 |
| No contests | 0 |
Medal record | |
Andy Lee (born 11 June 1984) is an Irish professional boxer from Limerick, Ireland. He is the current WBO Middleweight world champion, trained by Adam Booth. He was formerly trained by Boxing Hall Of Fame inductee, Emanuel Steward.
About
Lee was born in London, England to Irish parents. In 1998, his parents returned to Castleconnell, County Limerick in Ireland with their six children.[1][2] Lee had previously been training at the Repton Boxing Club in London from the age of eight, and upon his family's return to Ireland, Lee and his brothers joined St Francis ABC in Limerick, where his boxing career took off.[2]
Lee signed his first professional contract with Manny Steward in 2005. He then moved to Detroit, Michigan where he lived with his longtime manager and trainer until Steward passed away in 2012. Following his death, Lee joined up with English trainer Adam Booth in London.[3] It was with Booth that Lee won the WBO belt in 2014, becoming the first Irish boxer to win a world title on American soil since 1934. Lee is also the first member of the Irish Traveler community or any Traveler community to win a world title.[4]
Amateur
World Junior championships
Lee represented Ireland at the 2002 World Junior championships in Santiago de Cuba in the middleweight (75 kg) category. Lee fought five times in a week beating Ismail Sillakh and USA favourite Jesus Gonzales but lost the final to Cuban boxer Noelvis Diaz to claim the silver medal.[1][2]
Irish senior titles
In February 2003, Lee, aged 17, fought for the Irish senior amateur title in the middleweight division. That year he was beaten in the final by Belfast man Eamonn O'Kane. The following year Lee won the title after overcoming Patrick Murray for the honour and in 2005 Lee retained the title beating O'Kane in the final.[5]
2004 Summer Olympics
At the 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Bangkok, which doubled up as a qualifier for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Lee was beaten on points by eventual winner Gennady Golovkin by 29:9. Lee's next chance to qualify for the Olympics, came at the 2004 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Pula, Croatia. Lee earned a bronze medal at this competition and thereby qualified, as the only boxer, to represent Ireland at the Olympics.[2]
At the Olympics Lee beat Mexican Alfredo Angulo 38:23 on points in the first round. In the second round Lee faced Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam of Cameroon, after four rounds the fight was drawn 27:27 and the bout was decided by "count-back" and the verdict went the way of the Cameroonian, which ended Lee's hopes of a medal.[1][2] Lee was bitterly disappointed in the result and stated "I just didn’t fight to my ability. But when I got back home the people treated me like I’d won the gold medal."[1][2]
Professional career
After the Olympics, the Irish Sports Council had stated that they were prepared to fund Lee in order that he could continue and compete at the Beijing Olympics. However, Lee turned this down and signed as a professional with trainer-manager Emanuel Steward, who had followed Lee's progress since the World junior championships. Lee then emigrated to the United States to join Steward's Kronk Gym in Detroit.[2][6]
His first professional bout was in March 2006, at the Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, in which Lee beat Anthony Cannon on a points decision over six rounds on a card that featured Johnathon Banks.
On 15 December 2007, Lee became the Irish Super-middleweight champion after he beat fellow Irishman Jason McKay at the National Stadium in Dublin.
In April 2007, HBO featured Lee as one of boxing's top prospects, with Larry Merchant commenting "he [Lee] looks like 10 million dollars". Star coach Steward has also been quick to praise Lee, claiming on RTE television that by the end of 2008 he would defeat current world champion - Kelly Pavlik.[citation needed]
In December 2007 ESPN also listed Lee as a top prospect saying "Lee has all the potential to be the next great middleweight star. The 2004 Irish Olympian is a 6 foot 2 inch southpaw with skills, power and a streak as mean in the ring as he is personable outside of it. With trainer/manager Emanuel Steward molding him, Lee is moving quickly. He was 8-0 in 2007, including a thunderous knockout of faded former titleholder Carl Daniels. Lee is as blue chip as they come. If you could get stock in a prospect, he'd be near the top of the buy list."
On 21 March 2008, during his debut on ESPN 2, Lee suffered his first defeat after losing by TKO in the seventh round to Brian Vera. The stoppage was mildly controversial, as Lee was winning on points, and was still punching back as the referee Tony Chiarantano stepped in. However, he had been reeling and unsteady from heavy punishment and fatigue for several minutes, and neither he nor his corner complained at the stoppage.
On 19 July 2008 Lee defeated Willie Gibbs in the last round, when Gibbs's corner threw in the towel after a barrage of shots from Lee with 7 seconds to go.
On 21 March 2009, appearing on the undercard of the Bernard Dunne world title fight against Ricardo Cordoba, Lee beat the tough German brawler Alexander Sipos in a unanimous decision. This was a reckoning of sorts, as it occurred on the one year-to-the-day anniversary of Lee's first and only professional defeat.
On 20 June 2009, Lee outpointed Olegs Fedotovs in front of 60,000+ at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany for his 18th victory as part of the Klitschko-Chagaev undercard.
On 22 August 2009, Lee stopped Andy Shuler in the 8th round of a bout in Hammond, Indiana to earn his 19th victory and 14th KO.
A hometown crowd turned out in Limerick, 14 November 2009, to watch Lee defeat Frenchman Affif Belghecham in a ten-round battle of the southpaws. Shannonsider Lee outpointed the Frenchman 99–92; Lee stopped Mamadou Thiam the following year in the same venue.[4]
On 30 July 2010 Lee faced James Cook in Miami, Oklahoma and won the bout by a fifth round knockout.
On 12 March 2011, Lee fought Craig McEwan at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, and won via technical knockout at 0:56 in the 10th round.[7]
He avenged his loss to Brian Vera on 1 October 2011 by unanimous decision.
On 10 March 2012, Lee Knocked out Mexico's Saul Duran in the 2nd round of a stay busy fight.
First World Title Shot
On 16 June 2012, Lee challenged undefeated Titleholder Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for the WBC World Middleweight Title in the Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas televised on HBO World Championship Boxing. After getting off to a good start, using his jab and effectively outboxing Chavez Jr. in the center of the small 16 foot ring, however, Chavez Jr. eventually got through with his stronger punching power, essentially turning the fight in Chavez Jr's. favor. Near the middle rounds, Lee began to lose stamina due to Chavez Jr's focus on body work. In the round 7, referee Laurence Cole stopped the bout with Lee still on his feet after Chavez Jr. stunned him. Lee subsequently took a barrage from Chavez Jr. on the ropes leading to the stoppage. Lee was up on all the official judges cards at the time.
Lee vs. Fitzgerald
Under the tutelage of new trainer Adam Booth, Lee returned to winning ways, after his loss to Chavez Jr., by outpointing former Irish super middleweight champion Anthony "The Pride" Fitzgerald (13–3, 4 KO's) over ten rounds in a middleweight fight held at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast on February 9, 2013 on the undercard of a Carl Frampton Vs Kiko Martinez EBU (European) super bantamweight title fight.[8]
Lee vs. Jackson
On 7 June 2014, in Madison Square Garden, on the undercard of the Pay-Per-View fight between Miguel Cotto and Sergio Martinez, Andy Lee met hard-hitting Virgin Islander John Jackson in a 154-lb bout. John Jackson is the son of the great light-middleweight puncher Julian Jackson. In the first round Lee was knocked down for the first time in his amateur or pro career respectively on a hard right-hand counter by the heavy-handed Jackson. Lee regained his composure but proceeded to lose the next 3 rounds in a row, he spent the majority of the time tactically looking to catch Jackson coming in with a right hook counter. In round 5 Jackson unleashed a furious flurry of punches and trapped Lee on the ropes, Lee moved off the ropes, but as Jackson moved in to close the show, Andy Lee caught him with the perfectly timed right hook counter that he was looking for and knocked Jackson completely out.
World Champion
After the comeback knockout victory over John Jackson, Andy Lee secured himself a 13 December WBO World Middleweight Title shot against the then undefeated former 2008 Russian Olympian, Matt Korobov.[9] This was to be on the HBO triple-header that featured the fight between Timothy Bradley and Diego Chaves as its main event. In front of a sold out crowd at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Lee and Korobov fought a closely contested chess match before Lee wobbled Korobov with a straight left in the 3rd round. However Korobov regained control and seemed to be controlling the pace of the fight until round 6, when Lee connected on a right hook in an exchange and badly hurt Korobov, a flurry of 18 straight unanswered punches forced referee Kenny Bayless to stop the contest handing Lee the 6th round TKO victory and the WBO World Middleweight Title.[10] With this most impressive win, Lee became the first Irishman to win a world title on American soil since 1934.[11]
Professional boxing record
See also
Professional Titles
References
- ^ a b c d "Andy Lee - profile". Ringside by Gus. Retrieved 16 November 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g Ron Borges. "Future Star: Andy Lee". The Sweet Science. Retrieved 16 November 2008.
- ^ "Irish middleweight Andy Lee teams up with English trainer Adam Booth". Irish Central.
- ^ a b Leonard Gunning. "Andy Lee Turns His Attention To Facing Darren Barker". Boxing-Ireland.com. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ "Irish ABA National Finals". Strefa. Retrieved 16 November 2008.
- ^ Boxrec. "Andy Lee". Boxrec Fighter Page. Retrieved 13 March 2007.
- ^ Lee will now go on to face Sergio Martinez for the WBC Middleweight championship.
- ^ Nick Peet. "Frampton arrives with TKO of Martinez". ESPN.com. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
- ^ "Andy Lee stops Matt Korobov to win WBO middleweight world title in Las Vegas". Daily Mail. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "Lee stops Korobov to win title". ESPN. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "Andy Lee claims world title". Irish Independent. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
External links
- Boxing record for Andy Lee from BoxRec (registration required)
- The Official Website of the Kronk Gym
- Andy Lee in 'Sports People' file at Limerick City Library, Ireland
`-