Lee keeps faith and makes boxing bible

ANDY LEE returns to Detroit tomorrow to prepare for his first eight round fight which is scheduled for Las Vegas on January 25 against an opponent yet to be named.

Eight rounds will take Lee into unchartered territory after spending a quiet Christmas with his family back home in Limerick with an opportunity to reflect on this time last year when he agonised over whether or not he should join the paid ranks.

Under an agreement with the Irish Sports Council, he was enjoying the best deal ever offered to an amateur in the history of Irish amateur boxing.

But he had just come through two meetings, the first with the legendary boxing trainer Emmanuel Steward, the second with boxing’s legend Thomas Hitman Hearns — and he admitted yesterday that it was truly a trying period.

” It was the first time in six years that I did not have any direction,” he recalled. “It was a decision I had to make myself. You are there thinking about the rest of your life. The decision I was going to make then was going to have a profound affect on the rest of my life and, like I said, I did not have any direction.”

The decision was made and 12 months down the road he has just been named the “New Face” by Ring Magazine, boxing’s bible. That in itself is testament to the fact that he made the right decision.

“It was just eight/nine months ago that I decided to turn pro,” he grinned. “Like every other young boxer I had always dreamed that one day I would get my name in Ring Magazine. It was another dream come true.”

Since joining the famous Kronk Gym in Detroit he was been living the dream — travelling first class all the way. Emmanuel Steward thinks so much of him he has taken him into his own home to live — among the rich and famous in one of Motown’s most exclusive areas.

“I love everything about it,” Ireland’s most famous southpaw insisted. “They really love their boxing over there and they all know your name. You just walk into a place and you have people coming up asking for an autograph.”

He trains hard with boxers who have already earned superstar status so he is in no doubt about his own personal status in the Kronk Gym but he pleases Emmanuel Steward and that pleases him a lot.

“I feel I am very lucky that he takes such a big interest in me — that I am living in his house and that we get on great. It makes life so much easier,” he said.

The step up in distance to eight rounds is something of a step into the unknown but he just can’t wait to get it on. The fact that the fight is in Las Vegas gives it an added dimension.

“It’s all about making my name,” he said. “In the past when my fights have gone the distance my opponents were out on their feet in the last round and I was always thinking about what I could do if I had another round or two to finish the job off.”

When Andy Lee departed the amateur scene he left a huge void for Gary Keegan to fill in his high performance squad and the astute Dubliner raised a few eyebrows when he sent Darren Sutherland to the world championships in Mianyang City without having won a national senior title.

It was a brilliant decision in the end. Sutherland had a whirlwind ride through the preliminaries — stopping all his opponents inside the distance — and he had a medal in his sights when he touched gloves the eventual gold medallist, Korbov Matvey,

“I had never met a Russian boxer before then,” he recalled yesterday. “I had stopped all my opponents up to that point and maybe, on reflection, I was over confident going in against this guy.

“And what I did not realise at the time — when you go in against a Russian or a Cuban they put five or six points on the computer straight away. The judges have high expectations.”

Last May, his world came apart when he suffered a serious eye injury in an international against Russia.

“I was doing absolutely nothing for three months. I was feeling sorry for myself and there was a period when it did not look like I was ever going to get the all clear to box again,” he said.

In his absence a new kid had arrived on the block — maybe not so new. For a couple of seasons Darren O’Neill, a student teacher and former All-Ireland minor hurler with Kilkenny, had been battling it out at light heavyweight with Kenneth Egan. But he dropped down a division to middle and made it through to the quarter finals of the European championships.

A serious challenger to Sutherland’s crown had emerged and, after watching him progress, Sutherland found a new incentive to knuckle down.

“I got a lot of positives from my time out. I developed a renewed sense of motivation and determination to defend my title and that is what I aim to do in two weeks time,” he said.

“A place in the last four at the world championships will guarantee Olympic qualification but I want to come away with a medal.”