BEHIND-CLOSED-DOORS politics is what frustrates Andy Lee most about boxing.
The Limerick believes the chance at a world middleweight title and Sergio Martinez should be his this coming St Patrick’s Day, not his countryman Matthew Macklin.
Lee (27-1, 19 KOs) is on the under-card for the annual Madison Square Garden event and the common conception is that he will be lined up to face whoever comes out of the main event. But you can never be sure in this sport.
Like so many others, he enjoyed a Christmas return to Ireland culminating in a new year’s trip to, Louth’s beauty spot, Carlingford. However, his daily slog in Emmanuel Steward’s gym was never off his mind, never allowed to be, thanks to the merry-go-round that is the identity of his March 17th opponent.
Speaking on radio to Newstalk yesterday, the 27-year-old revealed that, the Freddie Roache trained, Peter ‘Kid Chocolate’ Quillin currently looks the most likely to fit the bill (if not for Lee) for the television paymasters:
“Every day it’s somebody new: Darren Barker has been offered the fight, Martin Murray’s been offered the fight – Sergio Mora was mentioned. It’s looking like it could be ‘Kid Chocolate’ now who I fight and that’s another situation where I’m fighting a really dangerous fighter who has a lot to gain from fighting me. So I could be forced by HBO, by whoever, to fight him. It’s a fight I can win, but he’s definitely one of the best middleweights so it could be a good scrap,” he told Ger Gilroy.
Talking up the danger posed by Quillin was just a touch of the refreshing honesty Lee offered about the ins and outs of the murky world of fight scheduling. The limerick native, who fights out of Detroit, resisted the suggestion that Martinez and Julio Cesar Chavez were running scared of him and instead admitted to some tactical dodging himself.
“I don’t wanna fight guys younger than me or coming up because why should I give them an opportunity? I’ve worked hard to be here and on any night anybody could win. We’re at that level now where it is only small differences that make winning and losing.
“But the guys above me don’t want to give me a fight because they have a lot to lose. so I think ultimately it comes down to HBO, the TV in America, they’ll make the final call.”
Strategy
That certainly appears to be what will happen for his Paddy’s Day bout but, for now, the southpaw is content to focus on his own tactics rather than any potential opponent.
Coming home for Christmas was a welcome break from the daily grind where living with his trainer makes for a 24/7 boxing environment. Letting his hair down may have taken a little bit of toll; one listener to Newstalk (who spied the boxer in the late hours 2011) remarked there is work to be done to get down to 160lbs. Lee, laughed it off, happy with his efforts and knowing the hard work he would put in:
“I’m not going to get on a scale til maybe February after the Christmas. But, yeah I was up (in Carlingford) and met a lot of people, me and my girlfriend and a few friends stayed up there and had a great New Year’s.”
For Lee, every backward step has preceded two forward. After the ‘annoyance’ of missing out on the Martinez fight he is solely focused now on using the bright lights of Madison Square Garden to force his way into the mind of the decision makers.
“I have the date and i’ll work towards that – the opponent will sort itself out.” he said before emphatically adding, ”My plan on March 17th is to go out and put on a really good show, turn the place out make them demand another title fight for Andy Lee.”
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