‘Sharpshooter’ Lee fires title warning shot with debut win
Former Irish Olympian Lee, aged 21, joined the paid ranks at the Joe Louis Arena on Friday night after almost a year out of the ring since quitting as an amateur. Displaying few hints of ring rustiness and even fewer signs of fatigue, the Limerick boxer swept to a unanimous points victory following six lively rounds against game opponent Anthony Cannon.
Now Steward, the trainer who has overseen the careers of 30 world champions since founding the Kronk Gym in Detroit in 1971, wants to keep the momentum going by providing Lee with a string of credible, testing opponents to steer him quickly towards the spotlight currently on reigning champion Jermain Taylor, Number 1 challenger Winky Wright and veteran Bernard Hopkins.
“I was excited before his debut and I’m more excited now,” said Steward, who signed Lee as a Kronk fighter last December.
“We put him in there with a young and winning fighter, a real opponent. I figured Andy had been fighting top-level competition as an amateur and I didn’t want to see him drop down from that level by putting him in with some of these drop-down guys.
“Andy’s got to keep doing the same thing at this level and with this momentum. If we start moving things slowly he’ll start dropping down but if we keep him going he’ll be a real fight for Bernard (Hopkins) or Jermain (Taylor). He’s taller than those guys, he’s got this trickiness and movement and experience from all those amateur fights and you never know, in a year’s time he might be close to one of those title fights.
“I personally don’t think much of those guys up there right now. If I was the manager of another fighter I would be very concerned if I had seen that fight. This kid can box, can punch, he’s tricky, takes a punch and has got a lot of ring savvy and he’s tough. He’s not just your average busy fighter. Andy Lee is different.”
Steward’s bullishness has already helped him secure a fight for Lee on the undercard of another of his charges, Wladimir Klitschko’s world heavyweight title challenge against IBF champion Chris Byrd in Germany on April 22. And the man who has handled the likes of Lennox Lewis, Thomas Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard and Oscar De La Hoya in a glittering career revealed that further fights are being lined up on cards featuring light welterweight title holders Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto in May and June respectively.
“It’s a tough schedule but if he keeps up this pace ... I did this with Michael Moorer. He turned pro in March of 1988 and by that December, his 12th fight, he was light heavyweight champion of the world.”
At the very least, if Lee builds from this impressive debut in those prominent undercard fights, he is sure to convert more fans and the influential television executives who can make or break pro fighters.
At the Joe Louis Arena, the Limerick southpaw added a small shamrock to the famous gold and red Kronk robe and a green stripe down the gym’s standard issue trunks was a further nod to his Irish roots. Yet Lee is learning his trade in Detroit, a predominantly African-American city, and it was a mainly black audience of around 2,500 fight fans that came to find out what this white Irish kid had learned after two months in Motown.
He didn’t let them down, controlling the fight from the first bell against Cannon, a Michigan native who had won his first pro fight last November. The ring announcer introduced the Irishman as Andy “The Sharpshooter” Lee, and he lived up to the billing, outgunning Cannon with a variety of shots to head and body.
Lee also dealt well with some hard punches to display a toughness that will serve him well but it was the American who went down in the fourth and received two standing counts in the sixth as the debutant cruised to a scorecard victory of 60-51, 60-51 and 60-54.
“I’m really pleased and relieved,” Lee said. “I boxed well, I didn’t get the knockout but not to worry, I got the win and I won every round easy. I want to get back into the ring and fight regularly again. But it was good to get that ring rust out. You can do all the sparring but it doesn’t compare to actually boxing. So I’ve got the debut fight out the way, I’ve got the rounds under my belt, bring on the next one.”
Lee, who had his parents and younger brother Roger at ringside in Detroit, is due to return home to Limerick with his family today for a short break before heading to Majorca on March 20 to work out at Klitschko’s training camp.
“It’ll be in the sun but it will be all work,” he added. “I’m looking forward to getting back in the ring already and I can’t wait for my next fight.”
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