Long wait over for confident Lee
“It’s been a long wait — last July was my last fight,” Lee said after a workout in the familiar surroundings of the High Performance Unit beside the National Stadium yesterday.
Lee, a former world junior silver medallist and Athens Olympian, spent many a long day working under Billy Walsh and Zaur Antia at South Circular Road so it was hardly surprising that he would feel relaxed there.
He has been out of action since last summer when he sustained a cut that required 17 stitches in his victory over Willie Gibbs in Limerick last summer.
“I had surgery on my eye which kept me out of the ring for a while but I needed to do it because it was hindering me in my fights,” he said
“I’m back now and my eye has responded well to sparring but having the fight cancelled — the fight was supposed to be today incidentally — that was a disaster.”
He was referring to the Madison Square Garden bill which fell through on account of lack of interest.
“It was such a shame,” he said. “For me it was devastating. I could not believe it — a week to go and these guys did not even have the courtesy to call us. They told everybody else the fights were cancelled and they did not even tell us. Everything was set. Tickets had been bought by family and friends and flights and accommodation paid for and these guys just pulled the plug.
“Months of training by me and all the other fighters — it was heartbreaking. I was lucky. Some of the other guys on the card were not as lucky. They get no compensation. They train for months at their own expense.
“Thanks to Brian Peters I got this fight and I have the opportunity to be part of what is going to be a historic night. Brian’s phone call was a big light at the end of a dark tunnel.
“I am looking forward to it because I am in pretty good shape. Even though I had the surgery I kept training — I stayed in the gym and did everything I could do. I am ready for it.”
His spell out of the ring has worked wonders for his appetite and he can’t wait to get his career back on track.
“It has actually been good to have the time off because it gave me an opportunity to evaluate everything — to put things in perspective,” he said. “The more boxing I watch — I am sitting on the sideline getting frustrated — the more confidence I get because I can see there is not a lot of strength out there in the middleweight division. Any of those guys in the top 10 can be beaten. I am ready for that.”
He sees Saturday night’s opponent as an ideal victim for his return to the ring but he was not dismissing him.
“He’s a tough fighter. I’ll have to focus because I know I have a very tough night’s work ahead of me,” he said.
Saturday’s undercard to the Bernard Dunne-Ricardo Cordoba world title fight will include Ireland’s two world amateur champions, Katie Taylor and Ray Moylette, as well as Olympic bronze medallist, Paddy Barnes.
“It’s a brilliant bill to be on, the best of amateur and professional boxing in Ireland and hopefully Bernard Dunne can win the world title,” Lee said.
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