Andy Lee (boxer)

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Andy Lee

Real name	Andrew Lee
Nickname(s)	Irish
Rated at	Super Middleweight
Nationality	Irish
Birth date	11 June 1984 (1984-06-11) (age 24)
Birth place	London, England
Stance	Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	16
Wins	15
Wins by KO	12
Losses	1
Draws	0
No contests	0

Medal record
Competitor for Ireland
Men’s Boxing
European Championships
Bronze	2004 Croatia	Middleweight
EU Amateur Championships
Silver	2004 Madrid	Middleweight

Andy Lee (born June 11, 1984 in London), is an Irish professional boxer from Limerick, Ireland who fights in the Middleweight division.

1 Background
2 Amateur
3 Professional career
4 Professional record
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Background

Lee was born in London, England to Irish parents. In 1998 his parents returned to Castleconnell, County Limerick, Ireland with their six children.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Amateur

As an amateur Lee competed in the middleweight (75kg) category. He won silver at the Junior World championships 2002 in Santiago de Cuba when he beat Ismail Sillakh but lost the final to local favourite Noelvis Diaz.^{[citation needed]}

At the 2003 Senior World championships in Bangkok when he was beaten by eventual winner Gennady Golovkin after he lost 29:9 on points. However, he won bronze at the 2004 European Amateur Boxing Championships and qualified to represent Ireland at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. There he beat Alfredo Angulo Lopez from Mexico (38-23) By Unanimous decision. In round two he finished level (27-27) with Hassan Ndam Njikam of Cameroon, however he went out of the competition on a "count-back".^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Professional career

After the Olympics, Lee signed as a professional and emigrated to the United States where he now fights out of the Kronk Gym in Detroit under the guidance of trainer-manager Emanuel Steward.

He is considered a rapidly rising star in the sport.^[1]

His first professional bout was in March 2006, at the Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, in which Lee beat Anthony Cannon on a points decision over six rounds on a card that featured Johnathon Banks.

On 15 December, 2007, Lee became the Irish Super-middleweight champion after he beat fellow Irishman Jason McKay at the National Stadium in Dublin.

In April 2007, HBO featured Lee as one of boxing's top prospects, with Larry Merchant commenting "he [Lee] looks like 10 million dollars". Star coach Steward has also been quick to praise Lee, claiming on RTE television that by the end of 2008 he would defeat current world champion - Kelly Pavlik.^{[citation needed]}

In December 2007 ESPN also listed Lee as a top prospect saying "Lee has all the potential to be the next great middleweight star. The 2004 Irish Olympian is a 6-2 southpaw with skills, power and a streak as mean in the ring as he is personable outside of it. With trainer/manager Emanuel Steward molding him, Lee is moving quickly. He was 8-0 in 2007, including a thunderous knockout of faded former titleholder Carl Daniels. Lee is as blue chip as they come. If you could get stock in a prospect, he'd be near the top of the buy list."

On March 21 2008, during his debut on ESPN 2, Lee suffered his first defeat after losing by TKO in the seventh round to Brian Vera. The stoppage was mildly controversial, as Lee was winning on points, and was still punching back as the referee Tony Chiarantano stepped in. However, he had been reeling and unsteady from heavy punishment and fatigue for several minutes, and neither he nor his corner complained at the stoppage.