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Andy Lee, So Close To Achieving His Dream
Lee got the better of Craig McEwan here in 2011, but Chavez Jr. is a cut above anyone he has faced. Readers, who do you like in the Lee-Chavez Jr. scrap?
After a decorated amateur career in Ireland, Andy Lee (28-1, 20 KOs) packed his bags in 2006 and moved all the way across the pond to Detroit so he could work under the tutelage of legendary trainer Emmanuel Steward.
Lee wanted to be a world champion, and he believed Steward could get him there.
After a minor setback against slugger Brian Vera in 2008, Lee came back to avenge the only loss of his career by pitching a virtual shut-out against Vera in the rematch just last year. This year, he took a stay-busy fight in Detroit in March while he waited for his world title shot.
Now, it is here.
Andy Lee will face Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (45-0-1, 31 KOs) for the latter’s WBC middleweight title on June 16, 2012 at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. The fight will air live on HBO’s World Championship Boxing and will showcase two of the most prominent middleweight contenders in the sport.
I caught up with Lee soon after the news broke about the fight to see what he had to say.
The Sweet Science: Hey Andy, thanks for making the time. I’m really looking forward to the fight with Chavez. On a personal note, I think it’s probably the biggest fight out there that can be made at middleweight and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m excited for you…
Andy Lee: Thank you. It’s a big fight and it has the makings of good fight. You know…both of us have a lot of knockouts on our record. It’s going to be a good fight. It has a lot of the ingredients to be an explosive fight.
TSS: What’s it like to be sitting on the verge of a world title shot? It’s something you’ve obviously been working your whole career towards.
Lee: It’s mixed emotions. I’m excited, obviously. I’m only one fight away from realizing my dream, and you want to get excited but you don’t want to get ahead of yourself knowing what a tough job you’ve got ahead of yourself training-wise and fight-wise. I’m so close, but I’m not going to appreciate it until after I have the belt on my waist.
TSS: Yeah, you’re so close. The only blemish on your record was against Brian Vera in a fight you were clearly winning. You came back and avenged that loss – handily I might add. What do you think you learned from that experience that you’ve taken with you since then, and also, into this fight?
Lee: I showed in the rematch how much better a fighter I am now and how much I’ve improved since the first fight both physically and mentally. I think I was just really immature the first fight and I fought a silly fight but I’ve learned from that mistake and moved on. I think it was a shut-out against Vera [in the rematch] so it just showed a difference in class really. I’m improving all the time, and I’m still learning a lot. And I’ll have a lot more to show when I fight Chavez.
TSS: This fight with Chavez…to me it seemed to come about suddenly. I always wanted the fight to happen because to me you guys are the future of the division. I mean, whoever wins this fight I think will be the future middleweight champion, and when I say middleweight champion, I mean obviously dethroning Sergio Martinez. So it just seemed so sudden. Did you see this coming next for you? Did it surprise you, or did you anticipate it?
Lee: It came around suddenly…I’d agree with you…but when we realized we had a chance of getting the fight, we put a lot of pressure on them and I clearly stated that I wanted the fight and really there was no one else they could fight. You know…there’s nobody else out there for Chavez to fight. It had to be made.
TSS: It seems to me that Chavez’s team has managed him very carefully in his career thus far. I was surprised they’d try and make a fight with you before a potential fight against Sergio Martinez since you would seem to pose such a risk. Were you surprised by that, too?
Lee: He has to fight somebody. He’s never fought a southpaw before. If he plans to fight Martinez, then they’d want to get him some practice seeing what a southpaw does. I’m glad they took the fight.
TSS: In his last two fights, Chavez showed different things. Against Manfredo, he seemed to box a little bit more, while against Rubio he seemed to press the action. Which version do you expect to see? Which do you prefer to see?
Lee: I expect to see both really. I mean, yeah, he did…he boxed well against Manfredo and he fought well against Rubio. And certainly we saw lots of signs of improvement in those two fights alone. I have to be prepared for both fights, but I think he’ll be aggressive against me. If he stands on the outside with me, I’ll pick him apart so he’ll have to be aggressive. He’ll want to get on the inside and Freddie Roach will be telling him to get there.
TSS: Well, this fight is in El Paso, Texas. Have you ever been down to Texas before?
Lee: I’ve been to Texas before, yeah, but I’ve never been to El Paso. I’ve been to Houston and Austin before. My girlfriend’s a singer and she played at SXSW [the music festival] in Austin. We flew into Houston and drove to Austin. We had a good time. It was definitely a lot of fun. It was a good experience for me.
TSS: I’m sure you’ve seen all the hubbub about officiating and judging here in Texas recently… do you have any trepidation about fighting Chavez in Texas?
Lee: No, I don’t…I don’t. People make mistakes everywhere. I’m sure I’ll get a fair deal, especially with all the recent controversy. They’ll be making sure they don’t have any more controversy because they don’t want to get a bad reputation. And I do know that I can’t control what they are going to do. All I can control is what’s in the ring and that’s all I can worry about.
TSS: What would a win over Chavez mean to you?
Lee: Well, it’ll be the biggest fight of my career but more importantly I want to be WBC champion. I’ve always seen that belt through history growing up and it’s been a dream to have that around my waist. Being champion of the world is all I’ve ever wanted to do, and I’m one fight away from doing it.
TSS: I’ve had lots of your fans on Twitter tell me that there are lots of folks from Ireland that are going to fly all the way to Texas to cheer you on in June, some taking four flights to do so, can you tell me a bit about what that means to you?
Lee: It means a lot, you know? I know it’s going to be mostly Mexican fans, but there will be a good section of Irish fans there, especially from Ireland but also lots of people from the east coast – New York, Chicago and here from Detroit there will be a lot of people coming. So I’ll have my own fans, too. It’ll mean a lot to me. You know, my family is coming over for it as well. They travel to a lot of my fights but this will be the farthest they’ve ever traveled so it gives me that extra incentive to go out and win the fight.
TSS: Ok, last thing, Andy. You train with Emanuel Steward who also trains Wladimir Klitsckho. I know you guys train together sometimes and spar a little bit. It seems like that’d give you a leg up on the middleweight competition…does it?
Lee: No, not really…I don’t think Wladimir has ever actually tried to hurt me. I work on speed with him…mostly speed work. It’s more of a chess match really, but when you’re in there with the heavyweight champion it really gives you a lot of confidence.
TSS: Well thanks for chatting, Andy. Good luck and see you in El Paso in June.
Lee: Thanks. See you there.
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Results and Recaps from Riyadh where Artur Beterbiev Unified the 175-Pound Title
For the first time in the history of the 175-pound class, all four meaningful belts were on the line when Artur Beterbiev locked horns with Dmitry Bivol today at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. When the smoke cleared, Beterbiev prevailed on a majority decision, adding Bivol’s WBA and lineal title to his own collection of belts to emerge as the undisputed light heavyweight champion.
This was a classic confrontation between a boxer and a puncher. Beterbiev had won all 20 of his pro fights inside the distance. Bivol was also undefeated but had scored only nine stoppages among his 23 wins and nine of his 10 previous fights had gone the full 12 rounds. As an amateur, Beterbiev had lost twice to Oleksandr Usyk, the second of those setbacks in the quarterfinal round of the 2012 London Olympics, and it was no surprise that the 33-year-old Bivol, the younger man by six years, went to post a small favorite.
This proved to be a tactical fight that was a disappointment when measured against the pre-fight hype. Neither man was ever in jeopardy of going down and at the conclusion both acknowledged they could have done better.
In the first two rounds, Bivol was credited with out-landing Beterbiev 26-10. But the template was set. Although Bivol landed more punches in the early-going, one could see that Beterbiev was stronger and that his straight-line pressure would likely pay dividends over his opponent who burned up more energy moving side-to-side.
Beterbiev showed no ill effects from the torn meniscus that forced him to withdraw from the originally scheduled date (June 1). At the conclusion, two of the judges favored him (116-112, 115-113) and the other had it a draw (114-114).
IBF Cruiserweight Title Fight
Australian southpaw Jai Opetaia, widely regarded as the best cruiserweight on the planet, took charge in the opening round and wore down Jack Massey whose trainer Joe Gallagher wisely pulled him out at the two-minute mark of the sixth round.
Opetaia, who repeated his win over Maris Briedis in his previous bout, sending the talented Latvian off into retirement, improved to 26-0 (20 KOs) in what was his third straight appearance in this ring. A 31-year-old Englishman, Massey lost for the third time in 25 pro starts.
Opetaia’s next fight is expected to come against the winner of the forthcoming match between Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez and Chris Billam-Smith. They risk their respective belts next month on a Golden Boy Promotions card here in Riyadh.
Other Bouts of Note
The bout between heavyweights Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke was the semi-wind-up. It was a rematch of their March 31 tussle in London. At the end of that bruising 12-round barnburner, Wardley was more marked-up but remained undefeated and retained his British title when the judges returned a draw. Clarke likewise skirted defeat after opening his pro career 8-0.
Today’s sequel was a brutal, one-sided fight that never saw a second bell. It was all over at the 2:22 mark of the opening round, dictating a long intermission before the featured attraction even though it would commence 15 minutes ahead of schedule, going off at 3 pm PT.
Both men came out swinging but the Ipswich man, Wardley, had heavier ammunition. A big right hand left Clarke with a visible dent near his left ear. When the end came, Clarke, was slumped against the ropes, his eyes glazed and his jaw looking as if it may have been broken. (He was removed to a hospital where he was reportedly being treated for a fractured cheekbone.)
Wardley, who carried 242 pounds on his six-foot-five frame, never had a proper amateur career, but having knocked out 17 of his 19 opponents, he stands on the cusp of some big-money fights. “I’d be shocked if he’s not fighting for a world title next year,” said his promoter Frank Warren.
In a battle between two 35-year-old middleweights, Chris Eubank Jr advanced to 34-3 (25 KOs) with a seventh-round stoppage of Poland’s Kamil Szeremeta (25-3-2). A 25/1 favorite, Eubank had his Polish adversary on the canvas four times before the bout was halted at the 1:50 mark of the seventh frame. The match played out in a manner mindful of Szeremeta’s bout with Gennady Golovkin in 2020, another bad night at the office for the overmatched Pole.
The knockdowns came in rounds one, six, and twice in round seven. The final knockdowns were the result of body punches. Szeremeta had his moments, but these were due largely to Eubank’s lapses in concentration; he was never really in any danger.
After Eubank had his hand raised, Conor Benn entered the ring and confronted him. The sons of British boxing luminaries were initially set to fight on Oct. 8, 2022. That match, expected to draw a full house to London’s 20,000-seat O2 Arena, was shipwrecked by the British Boxing Board of Control. Benn’s antics in Riyadh are an indication that it may yet come to fruition.
In a 10-round contest, Skye Nicolson outclassed Raven Chapman, winning by scores of 99-91 and 98-92 twice. The Aussie was making her fourth start of 2024 and the third defense of her WBC featherweight title.
Nicolson, who improved to 12-0 (1), hopes that her next title defense is in Australia where she has fought only once since turning pro, that back in 2022, but she would gladly put that on the backburner for a date with Amanda Serrano. It was the first pro loss for Chapman (9-1), a 30-year-old Englishwoman.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 300: Eastern Horizons — Bivol, Beterbiev and Japan
Avila Perspective, Chap. 300: Eastern Horizons — Bivol, Beterbiev and Japan
All eyes are pointed east, if you are a boxing fan.
First, light heavyweights Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol meet in Saudi Arabia to determine who is the baddest at 175 pounds. Then a few days later bantamweights and flyweights tangle in Japan.
Before the 21st century, who would have thought we could watch fights from the Middle East and Asia live.
Who would have thought Americans would care.
Streaming has changed the boxing landscape.
Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs), the IBF, WBC, WBO light heavyweight titlist meets WBA titlist Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) for the undisputed world championship on Saturday Oct. 12, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The entire card will air on DAZN pay-per-view. In the United States, the main event, expected to start at 3:15 pm PT, will also be available on ESPN+.
A few decades ago, only Europeans and Asians would care about this fight card. And only the most avid American fight fan would even notice. Times have changed dramatically for the worldwide boxing scene.
In the 1970s and 80s, ABC’s Wide World of Sports would occasionally televise boxing from other countries. Muhammad Ali was featured on that show many times. Also, Danny “Lil Red” Lopez, Salvador Sanchez and Larry Holmes.
Howard Cosell was usually the host of that show and then denounced the sport as too brutal after 15 rounds of a one-sided match between Holmes and Randall Cobb at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas in 1982.
That same Cobb would later go into acting and appear in films with Chuck Norris and others.
Streaming apps have brought international boxing to the forefront.
Until this century heavyweights and light heavyweight champions were dominated by American prizefighters. Not anymore.
Beterbiev, a Russian-born fighter now living in Canada, is 39 years old and has yet to hear the final bell ring in any of his pro fights. He sends all his opponents away hearing little birdies. He is a bruiser.
“I want a good fight. I’m preparing for a good fight. We’ll see,” said Beterbiev.
Bivol, 33, is originally from Kyrgyzstan and now lives in the desert town of Indio, Calif. He has never tasted defeat but unlike his foe, he vanquishes his opponents with a more technical approach. He does have some pop.
“Artur (Beterbiev) is a great champion. He has what I want. He has the belts. And it’s not only about belts. When I look at his skills, I want to check my skills also against this amazing fighter,” said Bivol.
The Riyadh fight card also features several other world titlists including Jai Opetaia, Chris Eubank Jr and female star Skye Nicolson.
Japan
Two days later, bantamweight slugger Junto Nakatani leads a fight card that includes flyweight and super flyweight world titlists.
Nakatani (28-0, 21 KOs), a three-division world titlist, defends the WBC bantamweight title against Thailand’s Tasana Salapat (76-1, 53 KOs) on Monday Oct. 14, at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. ESPN+ will stream the Teiken Promotions card.
The left-handed assassin Nakatani has a misleading appearance that might lead one to think he’s more suited for a tailor than a scrambler of brain cells.
A few years back I ran into Nakatani at the Maywood Boxing club in the Los Angeles area. I thought he was a journalist, not the feared pugilist who knocked out Angel Acosta and Andrew Moloney on American shores.
Nakatani is worth watching at 1 a.m. on ESPN+.
Others on the card include WBO super flyweight titlist Kosei Tanaka (20-1, 11 KOs) defending against Phumelele Cafu (10-0-3); and WBO fly titlist Anthony Olascuaga (7-1, 5 KOs) defending against Jonathan “Bomba” Gonzalez (28-3-1, 14 KOs) the WBO light fly titlist who is moving up in weight.
It’s a loaded fight card.
RIP Max Garcia
The boxing world lost Max Garcia one of Northern California’s best trainers and a longtime friend of mine. He passed away this week.
Garcia and his son Sam Garcia often traveled down to Southern California with their fighters ready to show off their advanced boxing skills time after time.
It was either the late 90s or early 2000s that I met Max in Big Bear Lake at one of the many boxing gyms there at that time. We would run into each other at fight cards in California or Nevada. He was always one of the classiest guys in the boxing business.
If Max had a fighter on a boxing card you knew it was trouble for the other guy. All of his fighters were prepared and had that extra something. He was one of the trainers in NorCal who started churning out elite fighters out of Salinas, Gilroy and other nearby places.
Recently, I spotted Max and his son on a televised card with another one of his fighters. I mentioned to my wife to watch the Northern California fighter because he was with the Garcias. Sure enough, he battered the other fighter and won handily.
Max, you will be missed by all.
Fights to Watch
(all times Pacific Time)
Sat. DAZN pay-per-view, 9 a.m. Beterbiev-Bivol full card. Beterbiev (20-0) vs Dmitry Bivol (23-0) main event only also available on ESPN+ (3:15 pm approx.)
Mon. ESPN+ 1 a.m. Junto Nakatani (28-0) vs Tasana Salapat (76-1).
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Junto Nakatani’s Road to a Mega-fight plus Notes on the Best Boxers from Thailand
Junto Nakatani’s Road to a Mega-fight plus Notes on the Best Boxers from Thailand
WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani, whose name now appears on several of the Top 10 pound-for-pound lists, returns to the ring on Monday. His title defense against Thailand’s Petch CP Freshmart is the grand finale of a two-day boxing festival at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena.
One of several Thai boxers sponsored by Fresh Mart, a national grocery chain, Petch, 30, was born Tasana Salapat or Thasana Saraphath, depending on the source, and is sometimes identified as Petch Sor Chitpattana (confusing, huh?). A pro since 2011, he brings a record of 76-1 with 53 TKOs.
In boxing, records are often misleading and that is especially true when referencing boxers from Thailand. And so, although Petch has record that jumps off the page, we really don’t know how good he is. Is he world class, or is he run-of-the-mill?
A closer look at his record reveals that only 20 of his wins came against opponents with winning records. Fifteen of his victims were making their pro debut. It is revealing that his lone defeat came in his lone fight outside Thailand. In December of 2018, he fought Takuma Inoue in Tokyo and lost a unanimous decision. Inoue, who was appearing in his thirteenth pro fight, won the 12-rounder by scores of 117-111 across the board.
A boxer doesn’t win 76 fights in a career in which he answers the bell for 407 rounds without being able to fight more than a little, but there’s a reason why the house fighter Nakatani (28-0, 21 KOs) is favored by odds as high as 50/1 in the bookmaking universe. Petch may force Junto to go the distance, but even that is a longshot.
Boxers from Thailand
Four fighters from Thailand, all of whom were active in the 1990s, are listed on the 42-name Hall of Fame ballot that arrived in the mail this week. They are Sot Chitalada, Ratanopol Sor Varapin, Veeraphol Sahaprom, and Pongsaklek Wonjongham. On a year when the great Manny Pacquiao is on the ballot, leaving one less slot for the remainder, the likelihood that any of the four will turn up on the dais in Canastota at the 2025 induction ceremony is slim.
By our reckoning, two active Thai fighters have a strong chance of making it someday. The first is Srisaket Sor Rungvisai who knocked Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez from his perch at the top of the pound-for-pound rankings in one of the biggest upsets in recent memory and then destroyed him in the rematch. The noted boxing historian Matt McGrain named Sor Rungvisai (aka Wisaksil Wangek) the top super flyweight of the decade 2010-2019.
The other is Knockout CP Freshmart (aka Thammanoon Niyomstrom). True, he’s getting a bit long in the tooth for a fighter in boxing’s smallest weight class (he’s 34), but the long-reigning strawweight champion, who has never fought a match scheduled for fewer than 10 rounds, has won all 25 of his pro fights and shows no signs of slowing down. He will be back in action next month opposing Puerto Rico-born Oscar Collazo in Riyadh.
The next Thai fighter to go into the IBHOF (and it may not happen in my lifetime) will bring the number to three. Khaosai Galaxy entered the Hall with the class of 1999 and Pone Kingpetch was inducted posthumously in 2023 in the Old Timer’s category.
Nakatani (pictured)
Hailing from the southeastern Japanese city of Inabe, Junto Nakatani is the real deal. In 2023, the five-foot-eight southpaw forged the TSS Knockout of the Year at the expense of Andrew Moloney. Late in the 12th round, he landed a short left hook to the chin and the poor Aussie was unconscious before he hit the mat. In his last outing, on July 20, he went downstairs to dismiss his opponent, taking out Vincent Astrolabio with a short left to the pit of the stomach. Astrolabio went down, writhing in pain, and was unable to continue. It was all over at the 2:37 mark of the opening round.
It’s easy to see where Nakatani is headed after he takes care of business on Monday.
Currently, Japanese boxers own all four meaningful pieces of the 118-pound puzzle. Of the four, the most recognizable name other than Nakatani is that of Takuma Inoue who will be making the third defense of his WBA strap on Sunday, roughly 24 hours before Nakatani touches gloves with Petch in the very same ring. Inoue is a consensus 7/2 favorite over countryman Seiga Tsatsumi.
A unification fight between Nakatani and Takuma Inoue (20-1, 5 KOs) would be a natural. But this match, should it transpire, would be in the nature of an appetizer. A division above sits Takuma’s older brother Naoya Inoue who owns all four belts in the 122-pound weight class but, of greater relevance, is widely regarded the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
A match between Junto Nakatani and the baby-faced “Monster” would be a delicious pairing and the powers-that-be want it to happen.
In boxing, the best-laid plans often go awry, but there’s a good possibility that we will see Nakatani vs. Naoya Inoue in 2025. If so, that would be the grandest domestic showdown in Japanese boxing history.
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