ANDY LEE HAS done little to dampen recent suggestions regarding the suspicious circumstances surrounding his world title fight loss to Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr.
Lee’s team recently requested confirmation that Chavez carried out an anti-doping drug test amid concerns that his win was enhanced by illegal substances.
And speaking on Off the Ball this evening, Lee echoed these concerns:
“People in boxing all know that Chavez is suspicious,” he said.
“I don’t want to seem like a sore loser – he was the better fighter on the night.
“And I don’t want to make any accusations, but there’s a lot of suspicion there.”
Lee claimed Chavez was given favourable treatment when it came to drug testing, whereas the “commissioner wouldn’t leave me out of his sight”. He said that unlike him, Chavez was allowed to use a cubicle for his urine sample.
Lee also cited other suspicious circumstances such as a late decision made, which allowed Chavez to be tested before rather than after the fight, while others on Lee’s team said they felt like “there was something shady going on” in the dressing room prior to the fight.
Lee said that while he expected some favouritism to be shown to his opponent given that he had home advantage, he was taken aback by how “blatant” it was. He added:
“I feel like I was a bit naive going down there, because they were not going to let me leave there with the title without knocking the guy out.“You leave there not certain that you were fighting on a level playing field.”
When asked why he didn’t pull out given the amount of suspicious circumstances prior to the fight, he said:
“10-15 minutes before a world title fight you’ve trained your whole life for, you’re not going to do that.”
Lee also added his name to the list of people calling for major reforms to be implemented in the sport.
“Boxing has got to be the worst regulated sport out there. I hate to be talking that way about my sport – three or four fighters have tested positive recently – there has to be reform.
“When I was in amateur boxing I was getting tested all the time, but as a professional, it’s not as regular.”
