On the heels of its biggest year as a promotional company, Lee Baxter Promotions is pleased to announce the signing of perhaps its biggest international prospect yet.
Call it the luck of the Irish.
Two-time Ireland national champion Lee Reeves has signed a promotional contract with Lee Baxter Promotions, and will make his debut on November 17 at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, ON.
Reeves is one of the most decorated Irish amateurs of his era, having collected eight Limerick championships and eight Munster championships to go along with his pair of national titles. In fact, in his years as a competitive boxer, he has never not appeared in anything less than a national final at year’s end, campaigning mostly as a light welterweight.
Now sitting comfortably in the welterweight division, Reeves is ready to make a splash in the professional ranks.
“I’m 23. I’ve done a lot of stuff as an amateur. I was thinking will I wait for the Olympics. But as we know in the amateur game, you can be on the top of your game, but one bad decision and you’re set back another 12 months,” said Reeves. “For the first 12 months of my professional career, all I’m looking at is learning, learning, learning. That’s all I want to do. I want to experience it, I want to enjoy the ride, but I won’t be getting beat.”
For Baxter, it’s an opportunity to expand the international reach, but also to connect with the notoriously astute fight crowd within the Irish-Canadian community as well.
“You couldn’t ask for a more marketable fighter than Lee Reeves. On top of obviously being an exceptional talent in the ring, he has movie star good looks, he can talk a good game, and he’s shown through his life that he knows how to deal with adversity,” said Baxter. “I think once the Canadian boxing marketplace is introduced to him, they’re going to fall in love with him.”
Naturally, Reeves fielded offers from promotional entities around the world, but decided that Canada, and Toronto specifically, would be the ideal place to base his career.
“I kept going back to Lee. Things just clicked,” said Reeves. “I was like, you know, the following for Irish boxing in Canada is huge. My skill, my confidence will go well over there. The Irish following is massive. My style of boxing will sell.”
Irish boxing is perhaps enjoying its finest era ever, with heavyweight kingpin Tyson Fury, women’s trailblazer Katie Taylor and pound-for-pound stalwart Carl Frampton all holding the spotlight as the moment.
But it’s a former Irish world champion Reeves has the closest connection to—former middleweight champion Andy Lee. Both Reeves and Lee are from the same city, Limerick, and came up through the same channels during their respective amateur careers.
“There’s a big boxing following in Limerick, so it’s a good place. I always looked up to Andy Lee. I always saw him and thought I could be on that level one day too,” said Reeves.
The 23-year old’s journey will begin on November 17 when he battles Benito Aburto, a four-fight veteran middleweight from Mexico who is coming off a knockout victory over Emmanuel Matias in May.
“The fans want to see what Reeves truly has to offer, and the only want to do that is to put him in real fights, which is exactly what Lee wants to be in,” said Baxter.
Reeves, a slick southpaw who grew up idolizing and imitating Pernell Whitaker, insists he’s as much about substance as he is style.
“I’m an aggressive counterpuncher. If a guy wants to push me, he’s going to get hurt,” said Reeves.
Tickets for “The Next Generation” are available through Ticketmaster. Doors open at 7:00 PM ET.