Andy Lee (33-2, 23 KOs) has a tough fight on his hands on Saturday night in taking on undefeated #1 WBO Matt Korobov (24-0, 14 KOs) for the vacant WBO 160 pound title at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. This may be the last shot for the 30-year-old Lee, because a loss to Korobov is going to knock him back to square one, and it’s going to take an awfully long time to build his way back up to where he is now.
Even at #4 WBO, you can make an argument that Lee doesn’t deserve that ranking because he hasn’t beaten a decent middleweight since his win over Brian Vera three years ago in 2011. Lee’s wins since then has come against middleweights with marginal talent, and against junior middleweights like John Jackson.
“Korobov is a good boxer, technically sound, but the major difference is my experience in the ring. For the first time in Korobov’s career he is taking on a fighter he knows can beat him,” Lee said.
I get the feeling that this fight will be decided not so much on experience but rather on the guy with the better chin, and the superior toughness. On paper, Korobov appears to be the tougher fighter with the better chin than Lee. It’s going to be up to Lee to prove that he’s not the same fighter that Julio Chavez Jr and Vera took apart in the past. If Lee doesn’t have the ability to take Korobov’s big power shots then we’re going to see Lee get stopped like he was in those fights.
“I had over 300 amateur fights so I have more experience than Andy Lee has,” Korobov said. “In camp we brought in an Irish left hander and I had no problems with him. There’s danger in every fight but I don’t expect Andy to come out and rush towards me. He’s smarter than that. This is my time. Andy knows it too.”
Korobov is right about him having the higher quality experience. Korobov has been in the ring with a lot of top notch fighters during his amateur career, and that has to count a lot in terms of experience for him.
