by James Slater: Once a fighter considered by many as a dead-cert to become a world champion, middleweight prospect Andy Lee was instead shockingly beaten in seven rounds by huge underdog Brian Vera in March. Now, according to BoxRec.com, Lee is set to make his return to the ring since his first career loss.
Set to box in Limerick, Ireland, the 23-year-old southpaw will face an opponent as yet TBA. A return fight with Vera would be a welcome match, but this seems unlikely – at least for now. Instead look for Lee to restore his confidence with a fight against a relatively safe opponent. Still a genuine talent who may go on to achieve some of what lots of people felt he would, Lee will hopefully have learnt from his losing bout with Vera.
Now knowing he has to afford each and every opponent he faces some respect, the 23-year-old will hopefully have worked on his defence in particular. Caught way too many times by Vera back in March, Lee took a lot of punishing blows. Fast, powerful and gifted he may be, but Lee discovered the hard way that as good as he is he must pay attention to the defensive side of the game.
Again, hopefully we will see an improved Andy Lee on July 19th. As with fellow up-and-coming talent Yuriorkis Gamboa, there was talk not long ago about Lee being world class material already. Such talk was proven to be quite foolish this past March. Yet if Lee had gotten past Vera it is likely he would have been moved up to the top notch, facing guys like the superb Winky Wright. Amazingly, there was talk of this fight happening down the road for Lee later this year! Talk about rushing a young fighter. Indeed, is there a tendency to move certain hot prospects too soon these days?
Fighters like Lee and Gamboa, though talented, need to be nurtured far more than it seems some people are willing to let them be nurtured. Maybe the loss to Vera was a blessing in disguise for the 23-year-old who is trained by Emanuel Steward. Will we find out how well he has dealt with this setback in a couple of months time.
It’s not appropriate to write the Irish hope off yet, but neither was it appropriate to burden him with the lofty expectations he was subjected to as he romped to his initial 15 pro victories.