by Dallan O’Donnell
It was all set to be a defining night in the career of Andy Lee. According to many Irish fans, it was supposed to be a great night of boxing and a pleasant distraction from the dismal performance of the national team at Euro 2012.
Standing in Lee’s way was Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. who, before this bout was largely untested and highly criticised for fighting lesser opposition. Both fighters were taking a step up in class on the night.
At the weigh in the day before the fight, Chavez looked Zombie like, as if he had struggled to make the weight, whilst Andy Lee looked comfortable at the weight. Of course, these days no fight can go without controversy, in this case it was the refusal of both the Texas Commissioner and Chavez team to weigh the gloves upon the request of Lee’s hall of fame trainer, Emmanuel Steward.
The fight went ahead with a legion of Irish fans in Texas to see Lee become champion but unfortunately, it was not to be the Limerick man’s night.
Lee started the bout superbly well, controlling much of the action at distance by keeping Chavez Jr. at length with an awkward southpaw jab.
Despite looking weight drained at the weigh-in, Chavez Jr. looked much bigger than Lee, with HBO commentators describing Chavez’s size as that of a light-heavyweight. It was this added size that, in my opinion, was the difference maker in the fight. Lee hit Chavez with some big shots, but Chavez never seemed hurt and walked through Lee’s punches with ease. This was somewhat of a surprise because of Lee’s record which boosts 20 knockouts in 28 victories. Chavez adapted to the long range tactics of Lee and managed to completely eliminate the jab of Lee, who was looking more and more uncomfortable in the ring.
Chavez managed to entice Lee into a slugfest, trying to prove to the boxing world that he could go toe to toe with a fully-fledged middleweight. Lee never had the power to hurt Chavez who was beginning to land hurtful shots on Lee. The crowd, who were very much pro Chavez, were rapturous whenever Chavez landed anything on Lee which was a daunting prospect for Lee.
Round 6 proved to be the massive turning point for Chavez, as he landed massive shots toward the end of the round which resulted in swelling appearing under Lee’s eye.
Round 7 was the end of Lee’s challenge of course, after Chavez landed some very big shots that had Lee out on his feet with his head being knocked back violently with just the ropes holding him up, the referee rightly stepped in and called a halt to the action and Lee’s title challenge.
Chavez retained his belt with the TKO victory and looked very good doing it. Proving himself at a higher level and proving many critics wrong. I, personally picked Lee to beat Chavez as I thought the Mexican was over-rated but after that display many writers must change their opinions on Chavez.
Of course, the weight in and the glove issue was not the only piece of controversy, as after the fighter Chavez failed to supply a urine sample for testing which has not gone down well with Irish fans, of course, Chavez couldn’t hand in a urine sample before the fight because of how weight drained he was, according to HBO’s Larry Merchants.
So, what next for both men? Well, Chavez Jr. has finally agreed to fight the true middleweight champion of the world, Sergio Martinez later this year. Obviously, a very tough fight for both men but Chavez will have trouble with the power and movement of the slick Martinez, who I pick to beat Chavez.
As for Andy Lee, I think that he can bounce back from this loss and challenge for a title again in the future, but for now I would love to see Andy fight the domestic fighters such as the likes of Matthew Macklin, Darren Barker and of course Martin Murray, who was supposed to fight Chavez before Lee stepped in. There are some cracking fights there and more incentive for Lee would be if he won some big clashes with those guys, then another challenge may be on the cards in the future. Lee will be back at world level again, that is a given, but he needs to test himself against those British fighters first.
