By Sean McDaniel: Middleweight prospect Andy Lee (17-1, 13 KOs) defeated Alex Sipos (19-6-2, 9 KOs) by a 10-round decision on Saturday night at the O2 Arena, in Dublin, Ireland, on Saturday night. The final judges’ scores were 99-91. Lee, 24, had troubles with the German Sipos, 34, in the first half of the fight, getting tagged repeatedly by Sipos’ power shots in the first five rounds.

Lee fought him off with hard hooks and straight left hands, but it was far from looking easy during that part of the bout. Sipos fought as if he had no respect for Lee’s stature as a fighter, as he walked straight up on him and repeatedly roughed up the tall, slender Lee with power shots and wrestling.

Lee, who hadn’t fought since July 19th of 2008 due to a cut over his right eye in his 10th round TKO win over Willie Gibbs, was cut in the same place in the 1st round after getting hit with some big shots from Sipos. Though the fight was one-sided from the stand point of the scores, the actual fight was nothing like the scores.

Lee struggled badly against the journeyman, and the outcome wasn’t settled until later on in the fight when he knocked Sipos down with a right hook in the 6th. Lee continued to give Sipos problems in the 7th and 8th rounds, landing well with straight lefts, right hooks and jabs.

However, he was unable to put Sipos in any danger in those rounds. At the same time, Lee’s face began to redden up, as he began to look tired and depleted despite fighting at a mostly leisurely pace.

In the 9th and 10th rounds, Sipos gave Lee all kinds of problems, landing with big right hands and battering Lee around the ring. Lee’s legs looked like rubber, and he seemed totally gassed out by this point. However, with his lead that he had built up in the first part of the fight combined with the knockdown in the 6th, he was able to cruise to a victory.

Lee’s lack of stamina in the last two rounds is worrisome, because he faded in just this way in losing by a stoppage to journeyman Brian Vera last year.

After the fight, Lee blamed his rusty performance on his long layoff from the ring due to his eye problem. However, this isn’t the first time that Lee has looked tired in the later rounds of one of fights and seems to be a problem that will likely occur again in the future unless it’s addressed.