Lee inks deal to fight Cunningham

Middleweight Andy Lee has inked a deal to fight Detroit veteran Darryl Cunningham in Washington DC next month.

The Limerick man (29-2) will bring his strategy towards a second middleweight world title bid to the US capital on May 18, where he will meet another Kronk Gym graduate in Cunningham, a southpaw who’s christened himself “The People’s Champion”. His paper record of 28-4 looks impressive, but only 10 have come by KO. He’s also in the twilight of his competitive career at 38.

The biggest name on his record is Andre Dirrell, who knocked him out in two rounds. Dirrell is a former Olympic bronze medallist who’s only loss is to Carl Froch for the WBC super middleweight title.

Ten years Cunningham’s junior, Lee has undergone a boxing metamorphosis since losing his WBC world tile bid in controversial circumstances to Julio Cesar Chavez last summer in El Paso, moving to trainer Adam Booth’s London base and re-calibrating his ring style.

He was an under-whelming points winner over 10 rounds against Dublin’s Anthony Fitzgerald on February’s Frampton-Martinez card in Belfast and is now planning to crank up his activity to put himself in line for another world title shot.