IABA hope Lee will spurn cash to chase gold

THE Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) is still hoping to persuade their top fighter, Andy Lee, to ignore the latest offer to turn professional and focus on Olympic glory in Beijing in 2008.

The Limerick-based Irish middleweight champion met with legendary trainer Emmanuel Steward in Belfast on Monday. It wasn’t the first time the American tried to sign Lee, but reports this week suggest he will sign a contract within two weeks.

Lee was a bronze medallist at the European Championships this year and claimed a silver at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Cuba.

Considered the brightest of Ireland’s young fighters, he was also our sole representative in the ring in Athens.

The IABA’s High Performance Director Gary Keegan was looking to organise a meeting with the 20-year-old before flying to Finland for a week today and said they would do everything to keep Lee under their wing for the next four years.

“Like all good, young boxers, there’s a curiosity there with Andy to try his hand at the professional game, but we haven’t given up hope of keeping him with us just yet. We’ll definitely sit down with Andy and the Irish Sports Council and put our side to him.

“We were talking to him about his future before Athens as well anyway. It’s not like we haven’t been aware that something like this could happen. We feel we still have some chance, but it depends on what offer is made to Andy from Steward, If it’s a silly offer (in terms of money), then we won’t have any chance.”

The chance to work with Steward, who has helped to train or manage 33 world champions, including men like Thomas ‘Hitman’ Hearns and Lennox Lewis, is a huge incentive for Lee, who was hugely disappointed with his failure to get past the second round at the Olympics after a countback on points.

In that light, the temptation to turn professional is understandable, but a word of caution is required.

At 20, Lee was a good seven or eight years younger than most of the men he was fighting in Greece. By the time Beijing swings around he will be in prime condition to fight for a medal.

“The Olympics is what I’ve always wanted,” Lee told the Irish Examiner prior to this year’s Games.

“Any fool can turn pro. There are fellas turning pro every day but there aren’t fellas going to the Olympics every day.”

How important the Olympic dream still is for the London-born fighter remains to be seen, but there is also the cold reality of life in the professional game to consider, which can shatter the dreams of the most talented of youngsters.

“You don’t want to be looking at these things through rose-coloured glasses,” said Keegan.

“There’s pros and cons to every situation. We’re looking to develop young boxers here, whereas in the pro ranks managers and promoters are there purely to make money.

“It takes anything up to 50 young boxers to find one champion and the guys that don’t make it are left by the roadside. If you get an injury you’re on your own and within 12 months, if things don’t go your way, a new young pro boxer could find himself out of the game completely.

“We have world-class facilities since the setting up of the High Performance system. We have full-time staff to look after our boxers’ every need. If that wasn’t in place we would have no chance of keeping Andy. But because it is we’re still hoping we can work something out.”