By Daniel Reed: I’ve never had a fighter that I’ve rated higher. To be good is one thing but to be great takes a great passion for what you do and Andy loves to fight. He is the complete package – good looking, intelligent, explosive power, physically structured to be a great fighter.”
Back when he was first coming up as a prospect, Emanuel Steward would rave and brag about Lee’s potential and talent. Coming from a man deservedly held in such high esteem as Steward, these words meant everything to Lee.
Steward told Andy himself and the world that Lee would be middleweight champion of the world someday, and he could fulfill his dreams of landing at Shannon airport in Limerick with the belt along with defending his title in Limerick.
Many years later, after a few bumps and rough patches along the road, including Emanuel Stewards passing in 2012, Lee fulfilled Emanuel Steward’s prophecy, stopping the highly-skilled, undefeated former Russian Olympian, Matt Korobov, in the 6th round to claim the vacant WBO World Middleweight Title. And after fighting the undefeated former WBO Champion Peter Quillin to a draw in a thrilling fight, we find ourselves staring down the road at a historical and memorable night on September 19th. Andy Lee will get his second wish, to defend his World Middleweight Title in his hometown of Limerick.
The record of Lee’s last two opponents reads an impressive 55-0, with 36 knockouts, and since winning the title, his level of opposition is not about to get any softer. Lee’s opponent in his first official title defense is an unbeaten English Olympian, with a record of 21-0, with 11 KO’s. The pride of Hertfordshire, Billy Joe Saunders. Saunders has yet to face anybody anywhere near the level of Matt Korobov or Peter Quillin, but he has been in the ring with good, solid fighters who have tested his metal. In fact, though his opponents up to this far have been European level, his last four opponents were unbeaten at that level. Gary O’Sullivan, John Ryder, Emanuele Blandemura, and most notably Chris Eubank Jr. were all unbeaten before they stepped into the ring against the Hertfordshire man. The record of Saunder’s last four opponents reads an incredible 71-0, with 37 KO’s. So while Lee’s last two unbeaten opponents appear to be of a higher level and more dangerous, Saunder’s opposition has been no joke either.
Saunders is a skilled, slick, southpaw boxer, who likes to out-maneuver and frustrate his opponents with a wide variety of punches and combinations. He has done very well at this point in his career to have maintained an unblemished record and looked fairly good doing so. Taking into account all these things you have to have Saunders in with a good chance to be able to perform at a high level. Even considering that Lee is much more experienced, this appears to be a 50/50 fight when you inspect it closely. If Saunders is to pull off a victory here, he will have to have a solid, solid game-plan, and he will have to have another game-plan, and possibly even a plan C. He has to box to perfection to keep Andy Lee from figuring him out, and landing his accurate power shots. A consistent, stiff jab and good footwork just might allow Billy Joe to frustrate Andy Lee and get him out of his comfort zone. Of course though, this is not the first time Lee will have faced adversity in the ring even if Billy Joe is able to do all those things. Lee is a smart, tactical, elite boxer who, with all his experience, can stay extremely calm under fire, and create opportunities to land big power shots, fight-ending shots.
For example, against the heavy-handed John Jackson, a fight in which Lee had to drain himself to make 154, Lee was caught hard in the first round, and seemed to be getting out-worked and overpowered in the following rounds. Upon close inspection though, you could see Lee waiting for a precise opportunity to find an opening when Jackson came in wild, he had tried the hard right hook counter several times in the fight, before finally finding it in round 5. When he landed that big shot, Jackson was rendered unconscious. Against the very highly-skilled and disciplined Matt Korobov, Lee seemed, to the naked eye, to be getting out-boxed by the slicker fighter. And while that was partially true, Lee was using feints, footwork, a steady jab, and good distance control to frustrate Korobov. The rounds, although being won by Korobov, were fairly close. Eventually Korobov became frustrated, and in an exchange, opened up to wide with a hook, Lee beat him to it with shorter, crisper, well-timed right hook of his own. The result, a 6th round TKO loss for Korobov, and a statement-making performance of patience and power-punching by Lee.
That and Lee’s excellent boxing in the second half of the Quillin fight after a rough start against a heavy-handed former champion, prove that Lee is just as much a thinking fighter in there. Saunders has great technical boxing skill, and when he lets his combinations flow he looks like the goods. However, against a wild, uncultured, and inexperienced Chris Eubank Jr., whose opponent just prior to fighting Saunders was a 23-17 unknown journeyman from Germany, Saunders faded late after a good start in the fight, losing the majority if not all of the later rounds. He barely scraped by with a close split decision which easily could have gone to Eubank Jr. Saunders also had trouble late when he faded a bit against John Ryder. Against a world class tactician in Lee, he’ll have to stay composed for a full 12 rounds and avoid taking too many risks, if he can do that he may be able to steal a decision in Ireland.
Regardless of the result of this fight, we are in for a great matchup and a historical night of boxing. As this will be the first time a bout has been held in Thomond Park, in front of a rowdy crowd of what will most likely be 34,000+ Lee supporters. This will also be the first World Title fight between two boxers of Gypsy heritage, with Saunders being of Romani Gypsy heritage and Lee being of Irish traveler heritage. The winner of this fight will be opening doors to big fights, possibly with the likes of Miguel Cotto, Gennady Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs, or David Lemieux, the other titleholders in the Middleweight division. So the stakes are high, the fight is set, the fans are ready, and Limerick will be rocking on the night of September 19th.
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