Ring-rusty Lee expecting a tough battle with Joyce

ANDY LEE launches another defence of his national senior middleweight title at the National Stadium tonight, but said yesterday it is going to be no pushover against experienced Athyman, Hugh Joyce (St Michael’s).

The Limerick southpaw has only boxed twice since the Olympics, but while in full training for some time, ring rustiness could be a problem.

“I have not fought since January 14,” he said. “In fact, my only contests since Athens were in Limerick and Wexford and I won both.

“I took a long break after the Olympics and there was plenty of time for my hand and the body to recover. After that I got back into the gym and worked really hard. A lot of things have happened in the meantime and there were decisions to be made,” he said.

The biggest decision was to turn down a lucrative pro offer from the legendary Manny Steward and opt for an offer from the Irish Sports Council that will take him up to the 2008 Olympics. “I am happy with the decision and only time will tell if it was the right one,” he said.

Meanwhile, he has a pretty busy schedule. He should be capable of winning tonight’s semi-final which would put him line for a third successive national senior title.

The finals will be decided this night week at the National Stadium and then, the following week, he will travel to Liverpool for the Four Nations Championships.

A week after that he will box for the Four Nations against Cuba and then, the following week, Cuba will come to Ireland for a big night at the National Stadium.

He is the first to say that tonight’s clash with Hugh Joyce will be tough.

Joyce has been around the block a few times. He won a number of under -age titles, a youths’ title and two national U21 titles. Then last week he outclassed Gesim Disha (St Matthews) in the preliminaries. The Lithuanian, who possesses a big punch, was one of the stars of the intermediate championships a short time earlier. Many expected Disham to win inside the distance, but Joyce always looked like he might end it.

“He is going to be up for this one too,” said Lee. “And the whole St Michael’s club are flying at the moment.”

In fact St Michael’s have seven boxers through to the semi-finals, including Roy Sheahan, a former finalist, who boxes Darren O’Neill from Paulstown tonight; his brother, Tommy, will meet Sean Crudden (Cooneen) tomorrow night.

Henry Coyle (Geesala), who stripped James Moore of his title two years ago, will defend the welterweight title against Karl Brabazon (St Saviours OBA) while Eric Donovan (St Michael’s), stepping up from bantamweight, will meet Dermot Lawlor (St Fiaccs, Carlow) for a place in the featherweight final.

Alan Reynolds, now boxing out of the Ballina club, has been hinting at retirement but he is back to defend his heavyweight title and meets big John Sweeney (Dungloe) in tomorrow night’s semi-final.

The other heavyweight semi- final is between Ian Timms (St Matthews) and Garret Smith (Cabra Panthers).