Andy Lee Vs Sergio Martinez: A Future Mega Showdown Brewing – Boxing News
By Gina L. Caliboso
In Quentin Tarantino’s cult favorite “Kill Bill, Vol. 1, “ the Bride (played by Uma Thurman) calls out to O-Ren Ishii and adds, “You and I have unfinished business.” Kill Bill, Vol. 1 is a cool, although bloody, tale about revenge.
After the recent HBO double header, notably between Andy Lee and Bryan Vera, and also the playing of “Max Kellerman’s: Face Off” between Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez vs. Manny Pacquiao, along with trainers, Nacho Beristain and Freddie Roach, revenge is not necessarily the right word to use. For both Lee and Marquez, it’s about “unfinished business.”
Fortunately for middleweight Andy Lee, 27-1, 19 KO’s, he is currently under the tutelage of HBO Commentator Emanuel Steward, who obviously specializes in making the tall boxer fight even taller. In his first outing against Vera, Lee had look a little meek, less technical, and less confident to facing his own boxing path. The story definitely needs retelling and it makes for a great movie. Irish Andy Lee left Limerick, Ireland, and made a firm decision that he was to train with Steward and become a world champion. He currently resides in Detroit, Michigan. Lampley and Merchant also made reference that the two are close and in Lee, Steward sees a great deal of middleweight contender potential. I guess it’s no mistake that he had managed to fight on the undercard with the main event headlined by the BEST middleweight – Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez.
This has been a stellar war for Lee. So far, in 2011, he remains unbeaten. In March, he defeated Craig McEwan, 19-1, 10 KO’s and earned a 10 round TKO. Lee then followed up with a fight in May 2011 against Alex Bunema, 31-8, 17 KO’s and came away with a 10 round unanimous decision. And finally, he solidified his own skill by earning a unanimous decision victory over Brian Vera, 19-6, 12 KO’s.
But back to my theory of unfinished business, Lee didn’t need to fight Vera again. Later, Merchant stated Lee needed to expel a “demon.” In his first bout, he failed to stand toe to toe with Vera and Vera beat him with a 7th round TKO. In this 2nd bout, he took control of his own strengths and cultivated a great lead hand with a powerful short hook. Lee remained on his feet, showed technical savvy, and ring generalship by making a brawler look ridiculous and unable to create an offense.
In the recent bout against Vera, Lee showed how a southpaw could cultivate a lead hand followed by a power right cross up the center that solidly connects. Lee showed better accuracy, looked lighter on his feet, and even as Steward coached his corner as the fight wound down, he still couldn’t keep away as smartly with Vera and wanted to trade. But also, it was too late for Vera. Vera had to attack for a KO opportunity, but only out of desperation. Lee did show that he is susceptible to the body punches because when Vera did land to the body, Lee dropped his hands. Since Lee kept Vera at bay throughout the fight, Vera did not properly set up body shots to get an opening.
Statistically, Lee showed his dominance in the fight. Punchstat showed he threw 294 punches with 175 punches landed, calculating into a 60% connect rate. He also threw 28 power shows with 19 landed with a 68% connection rate. But that’s the stats, there’s always that intangible that I like to consider when looking at a boxer. In any given fight, a boxer can have his day and decide to take the fight singlehandedly. It’s usually a look, a glimmer, or a fighting determination that can make the boxer into a champion.
On a potential level, Andy Lee definitely has the technical expertise to harness his tall, southpaw boxing skills into a titleholder champion level. However, as I mentioned before, I don’t think it was a mistake that Lee was fighting on the undercard of Sergio Martinez. Martinez remains to be the #1 ranked boxer in the middleweight division. Lee is currently ranked #4 behind #2 ranked Felix Sturm and #3 Daniel Geale.
Martinez fought an excellent match against Barker. I thought that Barker had Martinez somewhat on the ropes in the early part of the fight. He even had Martinez bleeding a little bit. But as usual, Martinez found a way to win by KO. I don’t think Barker put forward his best in the later rounds and simply gave up. The Argentine soccer player turned cyclist turned boxer would absolutely frustrate any orthodox fighter. When Martinez fought against Paul Williams, it was southpaw vs. southpaw, but Martinez dug in and fought him close in the first fight then put him away in the second fight. Martinez is fighting on a high caliber of confidence right now and it would take a confident, psychologically strong fighter to stick to his fight plan. Is Lee that prospect? Can Lee take Martinez?
Eventually, Lee can take on Martinez. But he needs to polish and establish confidence in his style, skill, and destiny to be the top middleweight champion in the world. I believe it but certainly Lee has to not only believe it and fight like he can do it. It may take some time, but much like his fight against Vera and as he continues to get better, Lee can definitely give Martinez a fight, but he has to want it and fight like he has nothing to lose.
