By Allen Fox: Middleweight contender Andy Lee (26-1, 19 KO’s) hopes to avenge his 7th round knockout loss from three years ago against Brian Vera (19-5, 12 KO’s) on October 1st at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The Lee-Vera II fight will be on the undercard of the Sergio Martinez vs. Darren Barker fight, meaning that there’s a decent chance that Lee or Vera could end up fighting the winner of that fight or else getting a shot against one of the middleweight champions. Either one will work, although Martinez is the best fight of the bunch because he’s considered to be the best fighter in the division by far.

Lee, ranked #2 WBO, #2 WBA, #6 WBC, was taken out by Vera in 2008 after getting lit up like a Christmas tree from Vera’s right hands in the 6th and 7th rounds. Lee was exhausted and out on his feet at the time of the stoppage. The lack of stamina really hurt Lee, as he unloaded with everything he had in the first five rounds but by the 6th, he had lost his legs completely and was red in the face, standing straight up like a tall stork without the legs needed to move around.

Lee couldn’t even bend his legs, as they were rubbery from the stress of fighting so hard. Lee fought well early on, knocking Vera down in the 1st round with a big right hand. However, when Lee was unable to put Vera away, Vera began to find Lee with big right hands in each of the rounds until the 6th when he started landing at will with rights.

Vera, ranked #11 WBO, has won his last two fights against Sergio Mora and Eloy Suarez, looking really powerful in both fights. Vera teed off on Mora in February, beating him up with hard right hands in something of a shocker.

For his part, Lee looked terrible against Craig McEwan last March, stopping him in the 10th but getting badly hurt along the way and getting hit with far too many shots. To Lee’s credit, he was able to come back and drop McEwan in the 9th and 10th rounds. However, had McEwan not run out of gas the way he did, he’d have likely stopped Lee. That wasn’t a good performance at all from Lee, and the fight showed that he’s still pretty much the same fighter who lost to Vera three years ago, only older now.

Lee fought well against the hard hitting but limited Alex Bunema in his last fight, winning a one-sided 10 round decision last May. That fight likely gives Lee some confidence because he was able to dominate a harder puncher without getting hurt in that fight. However, Bunema doesn’t have the size or the inside fighting ability that Vera possesses so it’s pretty much irrelevant what Lee accomplished in beating Bunema because Vera is so different in many different ways.