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Andy Lee is likely one of the finest Irish boxers of all time. He’s Eire’s most up-to-date middleweight world champion, with no Irish 160lbs fighter managing to observe in his footsteps during the last eight years. Nowadays, the previous WBO middleweight world champion is an expert boxing coach. In recent times, he has educated various high-profile fighters, corresponding to heavyweight Joseph Parker.
The hard-hitting New Zealander was made an underdog by OddsChecker, which compares boxing odds and free bets, for his September 2022 bout with Britain’s Joe Joyce, a bout during which he ended up struggling a knockout loss. The 31-year-old just lately bounced again with a call victory on the undercard of Liam Smith vs Chris Eubank Jr. final month, and he will likely be hoping to observe in his coach’s footsteps by returning to world degree.
In honour of Andy Lee’s good profession, we check out 4 of his highest-profile fights.
Vs. Julio César Chávez Jr. (June 2012)
Lee’s first world title battle got here in 2012 when he challenged Julio César Chávez Jr. for the WBC middleweight title. The Mexican champion was undefeated on the time, and he was a heavy favourite to win the battle and go on to field workplace stardom, similar to compatriot Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. Nonetheless, Lee put up a courageous efficiency and gave Chávez Jr. all he may deal with earlier than finally shedding by unanimous determination.
The extremely anticipated matchup occurred in June 2012. It finally resulted in a loss for the Irishman. Regardless of placing up an admirable battle, Lee confronted an nearly unscalable hurdle in Chavez’s vital weight benefit, and that started to take its toll all through the second half of the battle. Lee was stopped on his toes by the referee after taking a barrage of punches whereas he was on the ropes, with the person in cost bringing an finish to the competition to cease Lee from taking punishment. To make issues worse, he was main on all three playing cards on the time of the stoppage.
Vs Matt Korobov (December 2014)
Lee must wait two and a half years for his subsequent title shot and, when it got here, he was as soon as once more the underdog. He confronted off towards undefeated Russian Matt Korobov for the WBO middleweight championship. In an epic show of talent and willpower, the Irish sensation triumphed with an unforgettable come-from-behind knockout victory.
The Irish challenger began strongly. Nonetheless, Korobov started to take management of the battle within the center rounds. Then, in spherical six, Lee would wobble his Russian opponent earlier than touchdown 18 unanswered punches, inflicting the stoppage from referee Kenny Bayless.
vs Peter Quillin (April 2015)
Lee’s first world title defence was supposed to come back in April 2015. Nonetheless, his opponent, the unbeaten Peter Quillin missed weight, which means that he couldn’t win the championship even with a victory.
Regardless of that, the battle went forward and resulted in a controversial draw. Many individuals in attendance felt that Lee deserved to be declared the winner. He as soon as once more entered the bout as an underdog, however he gave the followers one other spirited efficiency towards top-of-the-line middleweights on the planet on the time.
vs Billy-Joe Saunders (December 2015)
Lee’s ultimate world title battle got here in 2015 when he lost his WBO middleweight title to Billy-Joe Saunders through a razor-thin majority determination. Saunders had handed Chris Eubank Jr. the primary lack of his profession simply over a yr prior and he took an early lead within the battle, utilizing his superior boxing abilities to construct an enormous lead on the scorecards. The champion would then rally late on in an try and retain his championship and shut the present. Whereas he did make the scoreline look extra aggressive, he was unsuccessful in his try and retain his title.
Two of the official scorecards at ringside have Saunders a victory by scores of 115–111 and 114–112, with the third scoring the bout a 113-113 draw.
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