Lee can profit from the Klitschko connection

IRISH boxer Andy Lee will have some heavyweight support when he looks for the second win of his professional career in Mannheim, Germany, tomorrow night.

The former Olympian from Limerick has been sparring with 6ft 5ins, 17st 6ins star Wladimir Klitschko in the build-up to his six-round middleweight bout against unbeaten German Burhan Aykut, a fight which will be shown to a national, non-pay-per-view audience in the USA on HBO.

The 21-year-old, now fighting out of Detroit with trainer Emmanuel Steward, has decamped to Europe with Klitschko and the rest of the Kronk stable ahead of the Ukrainain’s IBF world title challenge against champion Chris Byrd of the USA.

Lee, 21, has been heavily involved with Klitschko’s preparations, sparring with the heavyweight for four rounds every day at their Majorca training camp and now in Heidelberg, Germany, as fight night looms.

At 6ft 1inch Lee is tall for a middleweight, but Klitschko has been towering above him in the ring and the Irishman believes the experience can only benefit him against Aykut.

“Wladimir’s a big guy and he can hit really, really hard,” Lee said.

“He ran out of sparring partners so Manny asked me into the ring with him. I’m a southpaw like Byrd so he’s been able to do a lot of work with me, work on his defence.

“He caught me with a couple of very solid jabs and they were hard. It has been tough but it’s going to stand to me as well. I’m fighting fit and while this guy is not coming to roll over - he’s 3-0 so he’s pretty handy - I know I’m ready to go.

“I’ve been training hard since March 19 for this and all the hard work was done in Majorca. The camp went really, really well and I’ve done lots of sparring apart from with Wladimir. I’ve been in with Kermit Cintron and Johnathon Banks and I’m feeling very sharp. I’m looking forward to fighting.”

Lee, who won his pro debut in Detroit last month, said he will not fear a 12,000 capacity German crowd at the SAP-Arena when he faces hometown boxer Aykut.

“I’ve been told that even though they get big crowds here they mostly stay quiet. But I’ve fought in big arenas before as an amateur and we even trained in front of 2,000 people at a public session for Wlad yesterday, so big crowds don’t worry me.

“Once I get in that ring I’m totally focused on the man in front of me.”

Aykut, 24, is unbeaten in three fights as a pro since joining the paid ranks last August but at 5ft 8½ ins concedes a lot of height to rangy southpaw Lee, who will look to pick off his man with his longer reach.

Lee won’t tempt fate by predicting the outcome but his assessment of stable-mate Klitschko’s chances against the 6ft Byrd at the top of the bill could well ring true for himself.

“I really think Wlad can win this title. He’s just too big and too strong for Byrd and as well as that he’s got a lot quicker on his feet. It will be an interesting fight and a good contrast in styles but Klitschko has too much.”

Lee will not be the only Irishman on the undercard.

Southampton-based Dubliner Colin Kenna faces a tough heavyweight test against Belgium-based Ukrainian Oleg Platov, a 23-year-old beaten only once in 21 fights and with 17 knockouts in the credit column from his 20 wins.

Kenna, 29, a brother of former Republic of Ireland football international Jeff Kenna, is coming off a points defeat in March when he lost his British Southern Area title to the impressive Michael Steeds.

The loss took the Irishman’s record to 15 wins, three defeats and two draws.