Andy Lee

By Sean McDaniel: After watching middleweight Andy Lee (17-1, 13 KOs)n struggle last Saturday night in winning a 10-round decision over German Alexander Sipos (19-6-2, 9 KOs) at The O2 Arena, in Dublin, Ireland, I’m now seriously questioning whether Lee, 24, has what it takes to become a world champion at middleweight. Lee, who’s trained by legendary trainer Emanuel Steward, was s hurt twice in the fight against the journeyman Sipos, and faded badly in the last two rounds of the 10-round bout.

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.

The latest boxing sensation in a long, growing line of Irish boxers who’ve emigrated to the United States is unbeaten light welterweight Dean “Irish Lightning” Byrne, who makes his New York City debut fighting on the St. Patrick’s Day Eve (Monday, March 16) “Erin Go Brawl II” card, presented by Irish Ropes Promotions, at WaMu Theater in the famed Madison Square Garden.

By Nate Anderson: Making his first appearance after a crushing defeat to Brian Vera four months earlier, middleweight Andy Lee (16-1, 13 KOs) took out Willie Gibbs (20-4, 16 KOs) in the 10th round at the University Arena, in Limerick, Ireland. Lee looked a lot improved since his last fight, keeping both his hands up most of the time to protect his chin, moving more often and mixing it up much less often than in his last fight with Vera. In the 10th round, with Gibbs attacking him fiercely and landing big right hands, Lee suddenly dropped Gibbs with a right-left combination to the head.

Gibbs got up, staggering visibly, and attempted to fight on. Almost immediately, Gibbs retreated along the ropes, or rather he slid along the ropes as if they were greased with oil. In reality, his legs were completely gone and he could barely stand up. Lee calmly went after him and drilled him with four consecutive straight left hands to the head, further staggering Gibbs, and causing his corner to throw in the towel, which landed around Gibbs’ head, obscuring his vision briefly while being attacked by Lee.

By Sean McDaniel: Middleweight prospect Andy Lee (16-1, 13 KOs) looked impressive on Saturday night in the process of stopping American Willie Gibbs (20-4, 16 KOs) in the 10th round at the University Arena, in Limerick, Ireland. Lee, 24, fought much more cautiously than he had in his past fights, that is, until the 10th round, when he found himself under a heavy attack by Gibbs, who was disparately behind in the fight and trying to score a knockout.

Lee, however, seemed pleased to finally lift the restraints on his own offense and went after Gibbs with some big shots, dropping him with a perfect right hand to the head. Badly hurt, Gibbs dragged himself off the canvas and attempted to fight on. Lee, however, smelling blood now, teed-off on a shaken Gibbs with a flurry of shots, which led to Gibbs’ corner to throw in the towel to signal surrender. The fight was officially stopped by referee Emile Tiedt at 2:46 of the 10th round.

By Dan Ambrose: Middleweight prospect Andy Lee (15-1, 12 KOs) hopes to get back on the winning tract tomorrow night against Willie Gibbs (20-3, 16 KOs) in a 10-round bout at the University Arena, in Limerick, Ireland. After being dubbed as the best prospect in the world bar none by his trainer Emanuel Stewart, Lee went out and got taken apart by Brian Vera in a t-round TKO loss at the Mohegan Sun Casino, in Uncasville, Connecticut, in March. Although Lee came close to scoring a 1st round knockout himself, Vera escaped the round, and in the following rounds he would make it a grueling bout for Lee, hurting him often with right hands, and busting up his face something awful.

By the 7th round, Lee looked as bad as Stewart pupil Wladimir Klitschko did when he suddenly wore himself out against Lamon Brewster in Klitschko’s 5th round TKO loss in April 2004. Lee would later point out that he made a major mistake by trying to slug it out with the bigger, stronger Vera, whom he probably could have easily beaten if he had focused on boxing him rather than trying to stand in front of him and trade shot for shot.

By Chris Williams: Popular Irish middleweight Andy Lee (15-1, 12 KOs) will be making a minor comeback on July 19th against American Willie Gibbs (20-3, 16 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round bout at the University Arena, in Limerick, Ireland. In his last fight, the 24 year-old Lee was stopped in the 7th round by Brian Vera (16-1, 10 KOs) on March 21st. For most fighters, there’s no shame in losing to a fighter in the class of Vera, who after all was a former star on The Contender reality television boxing series on ESPN2. Lee wasn’t supposed to be losing to anyone, especially a fighter like Vera who was considered to be a notch or two lower than the highly hyped Lee in most people’s minds.

Perhaps it was this kind of belief that made Lee careless in the fight, rushing out and trying to slug it out with the equally powerful, albeit slower and less skilled, Vera in the opening rounds of the fight. Even with his badly flawed plan Lee almost succeeded in taking Vera out in the 1st round after knocking him down late in the round with a heavy left hand shot. It happened at the end of the round, much to Lee’s regret, which allowed Vera to escape the round without taking any more punishment. In looking back at the fight, I have serious doubts that Vera would have made it out of the 1st round if the knockout had occurred earlier in the round.

By Scott Gilfoid: Irish middleweight Andy Lee (15-1, 12 KOs) makes his boxing comeback on July 19th against a still to be determined opponent in Limerick, Ireland. Lee, who turns 24 today, was shockingly stopped in the 7th round in his last fight against Brian Vera (16-1, 10 KOs), a former participant from The Contender reality television series on ESPN. Lee came into the fight a big favorite, with many boxing experts, including Lee’s trainer Emanuel Steward, hyping him and saying that he’s a future champion in the making.

In Steward’s case, he went even one step further, claiming that Lee would be a champion within the year and would defeat middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik to take his title. In hindsight, Steward seemed drunk with glory, thinking way too much of Lee’s easy wins over mostly soft set-up fights which were designed for Lee to look good in. That was supposed to be the case for his fight against Vera, a 26 year-old slugger known for being a heavy pressure fighter with mostly crude skills.

By Eric Thomas: According to the latest boxing news, Irish middleweight prospect Andy Lee (15-1, 12 KOs) may be fighting a rematch with former star from The Contender reality television series Brian Vera (16-1, 10 KOs) in July, as long as Lee’s badly cut up face has been healed by that time. Lee, 23, whom had been highly hyped by many in the boxing world as a potential future champion, suffered a humiliating 7th round TKO loss to Vera on March 21st. Lee had been mentioned previously as a future opponent for middleweight champion Kelly Pavli going into his fight with Vera, and Lee’s television fight against Vera was thought to be a showcase for him to build up more fans.

Lee was expected to walk right through Vera, who was picked because he was a fighter that Lee could possibly look good against because of Vera’s wide open style of fighting. However, as it turns out, Vera was much too strong for Lee and hurt him repeatedly with right hands from the second round on. Lee later said that he hadn’t listed to his trainer Emanuel Steward’s advice to box more in the fight. Instead, Lee got caught up in a brawl with Vera, seemingly fighting his style of fight. I don’t exactly agree with Lee here. I don’t think he was given much choice in the matter, in that Vera forced him to fight that way as he was attacking him continuously, and not letting him box.