Champ Chavez overpowers Lee

Andy Lee’s brave challenge to win the WBC world middleweight title came up short in the early hours of Sunday morning when beaten by Julio Cesar Chavez Jr by TKO in the seventh round at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.

“I have no excuses, my punches had no effect on him. My punches have hurt a lot of people, but he was able to take them,” said Lee, who is now 28-2, 20 KOs, after the fight.

The fact that Lee was ahead by two rounds on all three of the judges’ scorecards when the end came will be all the more painful for the Limerick man, who abandoned his plan of fighting on the outside to trade with the champion.