Lee won’t rush world title shot

THE damage John Duddy sustained to his left eye looks certain to rule out the June 7 world title fight with Kelly Pavlik and, while Bob Arum is already looking around for a replacement, Andy Lee insisted yesterday that he won’t be rushing his world title ambitions.

Lee and his trainer/promoter Emanuel Steward had a meeting with Arum in New York yesterday and a possible world title fight was mentioned.

“There will be an announcement in the near future but, as regards a world title fight, nothing has changed,” said Lee.

“If I am to box for the world title it will be almost certainly early next year or maybe late this year, but we won’t rush into anything.

Arum said at the weekend that he wants three fights for Pavlik this year and Duddy was part of those plans.

He is now searching for a replacement for the June 7 defence with the cut which the Derryman sustained against Walid Smichet at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night likely to rule him out.

Andy Lee was at ringside to watch Duddy keep his unbeaten record intact after a bruising opener against the big punching Tunisian.

Smichet gave Duddy a hammering in a one-sided first round and came back to threaten again in the fourth before Duddy took control of the fight and went on to win despite the gash over his eye which might have justified an early stoppage.

“John got hurt in the first round and when that happens you can become distracted, you lose your ability to think things out logically. He appeared to go on autopilot but, at the end of the day, he won and that’s what counts,” Lee said. “He did very well to go on and win the fight under the circumstances.”

Lee insisted he was never going to be tempted into replacing Duddy on the June 7 bill, because he just would not be ready.

“We won’t be deviating,” he said. “I meet Brian Vera at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville in Connecticut on March 21.”

That fight will be broadcast live on ESPN and will be Lee’s first nationally televised headliner across the US. Lee will then fight at The Palace in Auburn Hills near Detroit, on April 10 with Willie Gibbs, a power-puncher from Philadelphia with a 20-3 record and all but four of his wins inside the distance, as the possible opponent.

After that he has a scheduled return to Limerick for a second appearance before the home crowd — the last at the UL Arena on February 2 was a sell-out though the opponent, Alejandro Falliga from Argentina, left a lot to be desired.

After that fight Manny Steward predicted a Lee/Duddy fight could happen as early as next year.

Brian Peters who has promoted all the Lee and Duddy fights in Ireland said yesterday that, if the pair were to get together, then he would certainly be interested in promoting the fight.

“Peters has already announced Matthew Macklin for the National Stadium on Easter Saturday, Paul McCloskey against former world champion Cesar Bazan at Letterkenny Leisure Centre and is expected to reveal plans for a Bernard Dunne comeback this week.