By Scott Gilfoid: Andy Lee (33-2, 23 KO’s) got a career victory in what could be the last hurrah of his career with his come from behind 5th round knockout win over knockout artist John Jackson (18-2, 15 KO’s) last night at Madison Square Garden in New York. Lee had been down once in the fight from a right hook from Jackson, and he was getting a serious beat down from the young 25-year-old talent. But in the 5th round, Jackson launched a long right hand that he didn’t set up with a jab, and this led to Lee countering him with a right hook that knocked him cold. The shot put Jackson down on his face on the canvas and the fight was then stopped.
For Lee, his career, which was limping along before last night, will continue on but his job doesn’t get any easier. Jackson, as talented as he is, isn’t one of the top guys in the junior middleweight division. Beating Jackson means very little because the top guys are Floyd Mayweather Jr, Erislandy Lara and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, and Lee won’t likely ever get a shot at one of them unless he starts facing better opposition than the four fighters that Lee fought coming into last night’s fight against Jackson.
Lee burned up 2 years of his career fighting these guys: Anthony Fitzgerald, Frank Haroche Horta, Ferenc Hafner and Darryl Cunningham. Yeah, it kept Lee winning, but it did nothing to make him a big enough name for the top fighters like Canelo to want to fight him. And believe me, they’re not going to waste time fighting Lee unless he continues to beat talented fighters like Jackson. That was a good start for Lee, but now he needs to continue by fighting the likes of Vanes Martirosyan, Javier Maciel, Austin Trout, Willie Nelson and James Kirkland.
If Lee could run the gauntlet and fight all 5 of those guys, then I could see him getting a fight against the likes of Canelo, but not with him fighting the guys he’s been fighting for the past 2 years. That was just a lost 2 years for Lee, and he has nothing to show for it.
“What a night,” Lee said on his twitter. “I’m not going to stop retweeting it,” Lee said about a gif image of him knocking Jackson out with a right hand. “A big thank you to the boxing [Adam] Booth team. On we go, boys. Thank you to Lou Dibella and HBO Boxing. What a night. It will live with me forever.”
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