By Scott Gilfoid: WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee (34-2, 24 KOs) got some bad news today. Instead of the 30-year-old Lee being able to take an optional title defense against a fringe contender in Ireland, Lee will need to start negotiations with #1 WBO Billy Joe Saunders (21-0, 1 KOs) for a fight that will likely take place in March, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.
Lee has until January 12th to try and make a deal with the 25-year-old Saunders. If he fails to make a deal by this date, then it’ll go to purse bids and who knows what’ll happen then.
If Lee’s promoter loses the purse bid then the fight would likely take place in London where Saunders would have the advantage with his fans.
Lee wants to defend his title in Limerick or Dublin, Ireland. It probably won’t matter where the fight is staged. He’s going to need to score a knockout in order to win, because Saunders will wind up out-boxing him the same way that Matt Korobov and John Jackson were in Lee’s last two fights.
Fortunately for Lee, he was able to score knockouts over both of these guys and keep his career afloat. Lee defeated Korobov by a come from behind 6th round knockout on December 13th in Las Vegas, Nevada and capture the vacant WBO middleweight crown. Up until the knockout, Lee looked over-matched against the Russian Korobov.
For his part, Saunders won a controversial 12 round split decision last November over Chris Eubank Jr in London. I had Eubank Jr winning that fight after staging a comeback in the 2nd half of the fight. Eubank Jr and many boxing fans felt that he did more than enough to get the win.
Saunders really fell apart in the 2nd half of the fight, as he gassed out badly and was fighting on fumes from the 6th round on. It was one of those fights that beg for a rematch. But unfortunately that’s not going to happen until perhaps later in the future if Saunders is able to defeat Lee to pick up his WBO title.
You have to favor Saunders in this fight because he’s quicker than Lee, and he’ll be fighting cautiously to avoid getting hit by the southpaw Lee’s right hook. Lee’s main weapon is his right hook, but it can be nullified if you fight a disciplined fight. Saunders will definitely be training to take that weapon away from Lee, and I expect him to be able to do so.
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