By Dan Ambrose: After three long years, middleweight contender Andy Lee (26-1, 19 KO’s) will finally be attempting to avenge his 7th round knockout defeat to Brian Vera (19-5, 12 KO’s) when he fights him on the undercard of the Sergio Martinez vs. Darren Barker fight at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

This is an important fight for the 27-year-old Lee, because he’s been spinning his wheels ever since that fight facing almost exclusively 2nd tier opposition. Lee has won his last 11 fights, but it’s incredible how many years have gone by without him stepping it up against higher caliber opposition. It’s only been recent that Lee finally started taking on some quality fighters in Craig McEwan and Alex Bunema.

The thing is nothing has really changed with Lee other than him getting older. He’s still basically the same fighter he was when he was taken out in the 7th by Vera. Lee still stands straight up, and is still just as vulnerable to getting rocked by big shots as he was in the Vera fight.

It was hoped that Lee’s trainer Emanuel Steward would teach the southpaw Lee some boxing skills to keep him from getting hit so much, but Lee still prefers to slug it out rather than to box. Recently, Lee struggled badly in a 10th round KO win over McEwan last March. Lee was hit early and often in the fight in a very poor performance. Lee was lucky that McEwan wasn’t much of a puncher because he would have knocked Lee out if he had a little bit more power.

Vera had a string of bad luck after beating Lee in 2008, losing his next four out of five fights after that bout. However, recently Vera has turned things around with wins over Sergio Mora and Eloy Suarez this year. Vera is looking very powerful and hard to beat right now.

I don’t see this fight being any different than the first fight. Lee will do well early on against Vera but then start to fade around the 5th or 6th rounds. Vera will then quickly wear Lee down with his heavy right hand shots and then take him out with a devastating right hand to the head. Hopefully, Lee doesn’t get hurt too badly in this fight, because he may be open to changing his fighting style after this loss.