By Jason Kim: Trainer Emanuel Steward has prepared his fighter Andy Lee (28-1, 20 KO’s) well for his June 16th fight against WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (45-0-1, 31 KO’s) at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.

Steward has had the 27-year-old Lee sparring with Adonis Stevenson, Edwin Rodriguez, Brian Vera, and Donovan George to get ready for the Chavez Jr. bout.

Steward said to fightsaga.com “If you could only see some of Andy’s sparring matches with Adonis. They’ve been incredible. Their rounds together have been more entertaining than almost everything you see on TV…Andy is easily the most accomplished fighter and probably the hardest puncher he’s ever had to meet.”

It does without saying that Lee is the hardest puncher that Chavez Jr. will have faced thus far, because he’s not really faced any real sluggers. The closest thing that Chavez Jr. can come to being put in with a puncher was his bout against Marco Antonio Rubio recently. However, Rubio is a small middleweight with heavy hands and not big power or speed. Chavez Jr. was able to take what power that Rubio had simply by smothering him.

Chavez Jr’s trainer Freddie Roach will likely have him try the same with Lee. It probably won’t work because he’s light on his feet and won’t just let himself get backed up against the ropes like Rubio did. The other tactic that Roach is well known for is to have his fighters use a lot of circular movement.

It’s possible he may try to get Chavez Jr. to do this, but it’s not something he’ll be able to do for long because Chavez Jr. fades badly in the second half of his fights even when he’s fighting flat-footed. He never moves much and if he tries to do that against the quick-footed Lee, he’ll exhaust himself early and make Lee’s job that much easier.