By Scott Gilfoid: #4 WBO Andy Lee (33-2, 23 KOs) likes his chances of beating undefeated #1 WBO Matt Korobov (24-0, 14 KOs) in their fight for the vacant World Boxing Organization middleweight title this Saturday night on December 13th on HBO from the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
This isn’t the first time that Lee has fought for a world title. Two years ago he challenged then WBC 160 pound champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in 2012 in a fight in El Paso, Texas, and Lee was knocked out in the 7th round.
It was a winnable fight for Lee if he had followed the instructions of his trainer at the time Emanuel Stewart, who was asking Lee to box Chavez Jr instead of slugging with him. But unfortunately for Lee, he opted to trade with Chavez Jr and it eventually caught up with him with Lee getting caught on the ropes and stopped in the 7th.
If Lee is going to be able to beat a hard puncher like Korobov he’s going to need to follow the instructions of his trainer, because this is a guy that can knock Lee out just like Chavez Jr did if Lee opts to trade with him for the entire fight.
“I relish this opportunity to fight for the WBO middleweight title; I have never been more ready to win the title,” Lee said via rte.ie. “I am totally focused on the fight and I’m ready to take care of business on Saturday night.”
This is perhaps the best chance that the 30-year-old Lee will ever have in winning a world title. Korobov is a flawed fighter with questionable stamina. If Lee can fight smart and outwork the Russian fighter, then there’s a possibility he could win a 12 round decision.
There’s no way that Lee is going to be able to get lucky and score a knockout against Korobov like he did against his last opponent John Jackson last June. Korobov is too smart to leave himself wide open for Lee’s hooks the way that Jackson did.
If Lee is going to win this fight then he’s going to need to be the busier fighter by pushing a pace that Korobov can’t keep up with. It’s possible that Lee can do this, but I have doubts that he’s going to be able to take Korobov’s occasional big bombs that he likes to throw.
Lee will need to be able to take 12 rounds of hard shots for him to beat Korobov on Saturday. The only way Lee can do this is if he keeps his guard up and he avoids slugging it out with him like he normally does against his opponents.
If Lee does win the fight, he’s going to be facing Billy Joe Saunders in his first defense. That at least will give Lee a good chance of winning his first defense of his WBO title. After that though, I don’t know how long Lee will be able to hold onto his WBO strap. There are a lot of good fighters in the top 15, and I just don’t see Lee as having the chin or the stamina to hold onto his belt for any length of time.
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