What next for fallen champion Andy Lee?
In the bowels of the Manchester Arena, England’s new WBO world middleweight champion Saunders was holding court after a majority points win during which he had twice dropped the former champion to the canvas with big right hands in the third round.
Lee entered the post-fight press conference some 15 minutes in, and while the former champion only remained present for a couple of minutes he was gracious in defeat, complimenting his 26-year-old opponent on his win while he attempted to repress his obvious disappointment as the 31-year-old’s voice crackled with emotion.
“I’m not going to stay too long, I just wanted to come in and congratulate you,” said Lee after embracing Saunders, who is now an unbeaten 23-0.
“Both of us conducted ourselves like gentlemen and we fought our hearts out. It was a close fight, but the two knockdowns cost me the fight,” continued Lee.
“He deserved to win, so I can’t complain with the decision.
“I would like another go of it, I felt I finished stronger but the two knockdowns cost me the fight.”
It was a relatively fair assessment of the preceding 12-round battle as the Castleconnell native had managed to fight his way back into the contest after the knockdowns, taking control in the later rounds and claiming a draw on one judge’s card, but Marcus McDonnell (113-113) was over-ruled by fellow officials Dave Parris (115-111) and Phil Edwards (114-112) — the latter score arguably the most accurate.
Lee’s manager and trainer Adam Booth was more talkative when speaking in the bunkered corridors of the arena as the former champion walked briskly back to his dressing-room.
“It was a close fight. The ironic thing is Andy won most of the rounds but Billy scored most of the knockdowns and before the fight a lot of people thought it would be the other way round — that Andy would have the power and Billy Joe would out-box [Lee],” said Booth.
“Billy Joe deserved to win because he was much more respectful of Andy’s power.
“When you have two knockdowns and it was a 10-7 round, and the first two rounds were close but if you gave those to Billy Joe as well then after three rounds he [Lee] is five points down,” added the trainer, who claimed that Lee was boxing to plan before being caught when being too adventurous.
“Andy made a silly mistake — he hooked with his head up high and if anybody catches you clean, you’re going to feel it. Because it hurt him, he did well to get out of that round,” said Booth.
The defending champion had started in fairly tentative fashion, as did his opponent.
It is arguable that, on away soil, maybe Lee should have attempted to dictate the pace from the opening bell and not run the risk of playing catch-up whether knockdowns transpired or not.
However, the fact that he has now suffered five knockdowns in his past four fights — one against John Jackson, who he came back to beat, two against Peter Quillin in their draw and two at the weekend, with his world-title win coming in between — is a worry, particularly as Saunders is not considered a big puncher.
“His last four fights he’s been dropped a few times, having never been dropped before that, but at the same time he’s also scoring his most dramatic wins,” noted Booth.
“It makes for entertainment but it doesn’t make for good health and longevity so he’s got to make a smart decision,” added the trainer, who did not confirm whether he would like to see the 31-year-old fight on after seeing his 38-fight record drop to 34-3-1 with his third pro loss.
Lee has now boxed 194 completed rounds as a pro — along with numerous gruelling gym sparring sessions.
“You can’t make decisions when you’ve got low emotions,” said Booth.
“You’ve got to go away, lick your wounds, wait until you’re in your normal frame of mind… and then start assessing things.”
Saunders said “a rematch could go”, as did promoter Frank Warren, but Booth is not so certain.
“I don’t think they’ll give the rematch because without the knockdowns, they’ll realise what a difficult fight that was.”
The new champion claimed bragging rights in what was the first world-title fight between two boxers from Travelling backgrounds.
“There’s no room for the loser in our community and I wasn’t being no loser tonight,” said Saunders, who was more gracious when addressing Lee directly.
“It was two proper fighting men. It was a close fight, I can’t say I ran away with it.
"I didn’t beat a contender and a fake world champion… he deserves a lot of respect… perhaps, if business worked, we could do a rematch.”
That seems unlikely considering the options open to Saunders, with Warren confirming that there is no rematch clause.
What the future holds for Andy Lee, only time will tell.
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