Lee stays cool as ice while medal fever rises
The Limerick boxer knows victory tonight over Cameroon’s Hassan Ndam Njikam will bring his Olympic mission to a whole new level.
Since his impressive victory 38-23 win over the Mexican, Afredo Lopez, the 20-year-old Limerick middleweight has been short-listed for the medals but that fact only broadens the infectious smile.
As Ireland’s only boxer he is a bit isolated without the support of a big team but national coach Billy Walsh and team manager Sean Canavan keep him occupied.
He has other things on his mind as well: the hand that gave him such trouble throughout the European championships where he clinched a place in the Olympic tournament.
“It was sore again after his fight last Saturday night but so, too, were his arms and legs and probably his whole body,” Walsh said. “He took them well, but he shipped quite a few punches in that fight and you are stretching your body to the limits.
“But we are very lucky to have a really good medical team out here. We have Johnson McEvoy who is our own High Performance physio and then there is Dr Sean Gaine and his team and the head physiotherapist, Dr Marie Elaine Grant.
“They are working day and night with everyone and they are giving Andy great attention.”
Nothing is being left to chance. All the middleweight fights are on video and are analysed. They have been studying tonight’s opponent very carefully and, in the absence of a sparring partner, Billy Walsh, himself a national champion and an Olympian back in 1988, is simulating the opponent’s moves.
“It works very well and it is very effective. It is a huge advance on the days when we were boxing,” Billy said.
“We have the benefit of a personal doctor, top physiotherapist, nutritionist, everything but most of all we have this facility to analyse opponents and we have built up a big library.
“Other boxers will take in bits and pieces but Andy takes it all in and, what’s more, he can put it all into practice. He has a very clever mind.
“It is just good to have him around because he is the perfect role model for any boxer and indeed for every athlete. He is disciplined and confident. He is precise about everything, what drinks he takes, his training, his timing, just about everything.
“We need to have him around for Beijing and in the lead up to Beijing because he will be a wonderful standard bearer for Irish boxing.
“I honestly don’t know what he will do out here. I look at the statistics and I see that the average for the medal winners in boxing is 26 years of age and Andy has just turned 20. But the guy is just so talented.
“That’s why I am confident he will beat this opponent. OK, he has a number of advantages. He is taller. Andy also has a longer reach and not only is he a southpaw but Andy is deadly accurate and computer-friendly. You cannot but see the cleanly placed shots which he throws.
“Now I am not saying that this is going to be a pushover or anything like that because this guy is a better boxer than the Mexican.
“He is better technically. He can box a bit but he also likes to rough it up and that is something we will be watching. OK, the guy from the Dominican Republic dragged him into a dog fight and, as a result, the fight was pretty close but he won it.
“Andy can cope with that kind of thing. He won’t be drawn into anything he does not want to do. He has all the tools and the ability to use them. I would be very surprised if he was to lose.
“After that then it is a whole new ball game. It is virtually certain, barring a huge upset, that the European champion, Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov, will be his opponent in the quarter finals. He will have an interesting contest with Sherzod Abdurahmonov from Uzbekistan just before Andy’s fight.”
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