Andy Lee: “I want to make it clear that I want the fight—I think I can beat Julio Cesar Chavez Jr!”
by Geoffrey Ciani (Exclusive Interview by Jenna J & Geoffrey Ciani) - This week’s edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio featured an exclusive interview with middleweight contender “Irish” Andy Lee (27-1, 19 KOs)who is scheduled to face Saul Duran (40-19-2, 33 KOs) this Saturday night in Novi, Michigan.
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Lee spoke about his upcoming fight, rumors regarding a June 2 bout against Julio Cesar Chavez Junior, his future plans, the upcoming fight between Sergio Martinez and Matthew Macklin, the current heavyweight picture, what it’s like to train with Wladimir Klitschko, the Haye-Chisora press conference brawl, and more! Here are some excerpts from that interview:
His views on his upcoming fight March 10 (the opponent was since changed to Saul Duran):
“He’s pretty good. I’m not sure if he’s the opponent or what’s going on. There have been a lot of changes with the opponent. Last I heard it was Camacho, but it could change again. Who I fight to me, I know it’s important who I fight, but I’ve trained well and I’m very focused and I know I’m fighting Saturday. So I’m just working towards the date and expecting anyone to be in the other corner. They’re going to have somebody there and hopefully I’ll have a good fight.”
Regarding the March 10 card that he headlines:
“I think it’s going to be a really good card. Anybody who’s here locally should come out and watch it, because there are a lot of good young prospects. A couple of guys will be making their debuts, Jacob Bamos and a guy named William McElroy. Tony Harrison is fighting on the card. He’s 5-0 with 5 knockouts. A guy named LeAndre White will be having his second, and Ernie Garza is a young Mexican kid from Detroit. He was a very good amateur and he’ll be having his debut. There are some good prospects on the card, and I’m headlining the show. I remember when I made my debut here in Detroit. It was a big occasion for me and it meant the world to me, and it’s real nice for these young fighters to be making their debut on my undercard, and I’m proud to be the headline fight on the night.”
Regarding rumors that he may possibly have a date ahead with Julio Cesar Chavez Junior on June 2, and whether he views his March 10 fight as a tune-up for that possibility:
“You know it’s always dangerous when you go into a fight thinking it’s a tune-up because you can fall into a sense of complacency. But I’ve prepared well and every fighter that gets in there with you has serious intentions of winning the fight, so you can’t take anyone lightly but it is just a keep busy fight. Hopefully this leads to a bigger fight. I’m going to just keep busy until I get a bigger fight later on in the year. There has been mention of me fighting Chavez. I’m not sure where it’s at right now. I know Martin Murray is also being mentioned. Hopefully I can get the fight. I want the fight. I’ve stated it. I’ve made myself clear that I want the fight—I think I can beat Julio Cesar Chavez! I think my time has come. I’ve served my time and cemented myself as a contender, and I want to challenge some of these guys who have the belts. If one of them gives me a shot I believe I can beat any of them. So it’s only a matter of time. I’m going to keep winning, and keep moving up the rankings, and eventually some of these guys are going to have to fight me. They can’t deny me forever! It’s been frustrating. I’m missing on the Felix Sturm fight, I’m missing out on fighting Martinez, but I’ll keep going and keep winning, and hopefully my day will come soon.”
On how he feels to finally get his 2012 campaign underway after having a strong finish to end 2011 when he avenged his only professional loss:
“Good. Like I said I finished up last year pretty good and on a high end. I really wanted to kick off this year and land some big, big fights. But it’s been frustrating. It’s not what I wanted for the first quarter of 2012. Like I said missing out on those bigger fights and having to take this fight, which is really just to keep me busy. In a way I’m lucky to have this fight, because if I didn’t have this what we call a keep busy fight, then I wouldn’t be fighting the total amount of fights I’d like. I like to fight regularly and stay active. You know I’m always in the gym anyway, so I might as well be fighting. I have this fight and then hopefully it leads to a bigger fight later on in the year. I’m ranked across the board, mostly in the top ten across the board. The champions are there and they’re having these rounds of fights, and after they have these whoever wins these fights with Macklin-Martinez, Danny Geale just beat Adama in Australia, and Felix Sturm is about to fight Zbik, and Chavez Junior is looking for a fight in June, and I want to fight any of those guys. I believe I’m ready. I believe my time has come. I’ve put the work in, I’m with the best trainer in the world, I got the best team around me, and it’s time. The time is coming.”
His views on Julio Cesar Chavez’s last performance against Marco Antonio Rubio, and his views on how Chavez Junior has grown and progressed:
“I think he’s coming along well there. You know at the start of his career he was a bit of a joke inside of boxing. You know he was kind of a gimmick that he had his father’s name and he had a following in the Mexican crowd through his father. Top Rank was moving him nicely and matching him nicely. Now really I think since he had the John Duddy fight he kind of turned a corner, and people started taking him seriously. He started to prove himself in fights, and as a fighter he seemed to improve with Freddie Roach, and you can see he’s steadily improving. He acts like a fighter in the ring now. You know when he gets hit he comes straight back and tries to hit the guys who put a little on him. He seems to have a good punch and he boxes well and knows his way around the ring. He’s a serious fighter now. You can’t mistake it. He’s definitely improved a lot. In the fight against Rubio I thought he did what he had to do. You can see he wasn’t having one of his best nights, but he kind of just bullied Rubio around the ring and outmuscled Rubio and used his physical advantage to push Rubio around. He got the job done. I thought he looked very good against Manfredo and he looked good against Duddy. Like I said he’s improving and he’s a serious fighter now.”
His views on the upcoming bout between Sergio Martinez and Matthew Macklin:
“You know it is an intriguing fight because Matthew Macklin comes in with a lot of intensity and he comes to fight every time. You know he’s a come forward aggressive fighter and we know Sergio likes to move and counterpunch. So it’s going to be an intriguing fight. Who can set their game plan and cement their game plan to the best of their ability. My heart wants Macklin to win, because he’s a friend of mine and I’d like to see him win. Then my head says Sergio because of his pedigree and what he’s done in the past. But Sergio’s getting on in age and he didn’t look that good against Barker. This is a good test for Sergio because maybe after the Barker fight he has to prove a little bit more and show that he’s still on top and that he’s not in decline. He’s going to have to do that against Macklin who should suit him. People say stylistically Matthew Macklin suits Sergio, but Matthew Macklin can box as well! He’s not just a fighter. He can box, and I think if Matthew boxes a bit more than fights he could give Sergio some trouble. We’ll see! It’s going to be an interesting fight and I’ll watch with interest. I’ll be hoping Matthew Macklin wins the fight.”
His views on the recent heavyweight action and whether he thinks fans have hope that the division can be improving:
“Well it’s good that we had those three title fights in consecutive weeks. It brings more attention to the heavyweight division, but Wladimir and Vitali are the dominant heavyweights. Until they retire I don’t see anybody beating them, unless they just hang around until they’re 50. But there are some good young heavyweights coming up. I think those guys like Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury, and David Price, those I think are the three best young heavyweights coming up right now. Sorry if I forgot anybody, but those three I see stand out. I think those guys don’t need to rush into fighting the Klitschkos any time soon. The Klitschkos are experienced strong men and they’re big and they’re athletic, and they know how to fight, and they’re smart. They’re smart boxers! It’s probably good advice for them to stay away from the Klitschkos, get their experience, put in their time, and in a year or two the Klitschkos will retire and then those guys will be ready and do something exciting for the heavyweight division. Especially now I’m a big fan of Tyson Fury. I’ve seen him train, I’ve trained with him, and I know what he can do. I think to me Tyson is the best out of the young heavyweights out there. I know he does a lot of talking and people don’t always like to hear that, but I’m telling you he can back it up! I’ve seen him in the gym, I’ve seen what he can do, and I’ve seen him fight. Compare what he did to Chisora. Vitali had a tough night with Chisora. I know he was injured, but Tyson beat Chisora easy so that just shows what Tyson can do when he’s on top form. For me Tyson Fury is the king of the future heavyweights.”
Regarding his experiences training and working with Wladimir Klitschko inside the ring:
“Wladimir is big and he’s very strong physically, but he’s also got good speed, and he’s got good feet. Since he’s been with Emanuel, you know Emanuel’s improved his footwork and his coordination overall. He has this offbeat rhythm where his feet and he moves, but when he punches it’s at a different rhythm. He’s very hard to time. Looking from the outside people don’t know. I’ve been in camp with Wladimir countless times with him. He understands. When the new guys come in sparring, they all have these big ideas about what they’re going to do to Wladimir. Everyone has this idea about what they are going to do, and I’m sure David Haye fully believed in his strategy and what he was going to do. But when you get in the ring with Wladimir it’s a different world. It’s totally different. What’s in your mind and what you think you’re going to do, when you get in there he just nullifies it. He’s so good at certain little things. You can’t really see them until you’re in there with him. He’s very good defensively and he knows what he’s doing. He jabs and he jabs, and he lines you up and he drops the right hand. If you attack him he knows how to tie you up and he knows lots of little tricks. He’s heavyweight champion and all of those fights, he has over 200 fights as an amateur and a professional and has years of experience. You don’t do all of that without learning a trick or two, and Wladimir has a lot of tricks. Not only that, the Klitschkos should be held in higher esteem. I know they get a lot of criticism for being boring, but these guys are gentlemen inside and outside the ring and they’re ambassadors for boxing. They do so much for charity. For me Wladimir is my favorite fighter because of what he does in the ring and what he’s done out of the ring.”
His views on the incident that occurred between David Haye and Dereck Chisora and the type of attention it brought to boxing:
“It got a lot of hype you know, and David Haye seems to be good at getting a lot of hype. Some said it was a black eye for boxing that the two guys, especially British boxers, were over there making a show of themselves in front of the German press and the world press. But it did get a lot of attention and I guess if Haye and Chisora fight now it would be a pay-per-view sellout because everyone would want to see it. There’s always been controversy especially with the heavyweights. Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis had a brawl. Even Ali and Frazier had a brawl on TV one time, and that stuff happens. Fighters are fighters, and once you’re challenged as a man, I don’t think either of them could have walked away with that many people watching. It was a thing that just escalated. First it was all talk and just jibes back and forth, back and forth, and then it just escalated and just got out of hand. I’m sure both of them are regretting it right now because neither of them came out looking good. It wasn’t good for either of them, but when you’re in the heat of the moment and you have tempers that’s what could happen.”
On what he expects in his upcoming March 10 fight:
“You know winning and look good and hopefully get a knockout. I’m not fighting a top of the line opponent. It’s not really about that. It’s not a big fight, I’m not making loads of money from it, and it was really hard to get an opponent. So it’s a good exercise for me to go out there. You know I’ve been training and focused for a fight. I got my weight down. I’ll be 160 for this fight and I’ll get used to fighting at championship weight. It’s just a good exercise for me to go out there, put on the small gloves, have a nice fight, and hopefully get a good knockout and move on from there and look for a bigger fight later on in the year.”
