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Who Goes With Fergus?

photo by Chris Farina-Top Rank
Who goes with Fergus?
In 1998, Tom and Ann Lee, along with their six children, journeyed from London, almost five hundred miles away, to settle in a small village called Castle Connell, six or so miles out of Limerick, Ireland. The Lee family had returned to their homeland.
WHO will go drive with Fergus now,
And pierce the deep wood's woven shade,
And dance upon the level shore?
As working class families do, the Lee family made use of their hands to earn their wages. Tom Lee worked the soil for a living, and his three sons, Tommy, Ned and Andy, learned their father’s trade. They likely learned many things from tilling the earth – things like the importance sowing seeds, the value of consistency, and that nature can only be mastered by hardworking, resilient hands.
Brothers like to fight. The Lee brothers had learned the craft of boxing at the Repton Boxing Club in London, and when they moved from the bright city lights of London to the darkened nights of Castle Connell, they had to find a new place to apply it. They settled on St. Francis Boxing Club in Limerick.
The youngest of the brothers, Andy, was almost immediately successful when he laced up the gloves for the first time under the careful guidance of his Uncle Cheasie. Three years later, he had his first amateur bout and showed even more promise. After the move to Ireland, his rise continued. Lee honed his craft to become one of Ireland’s most decorated amateur stars, which culminated in him being Ireland’s sole Olympic boxing representative in 2004.
Young man, lift up your russet brow,
And lift your tender eyelids, maid,
And brood on hopes and fear no more.
Lee did not medal in the Olympics, but his promise as a hopeful contender was such that the Irish Sports Council made him a lucrative offer to remain an amateur for four more years in order to compete again for Ireland at the 2008 Bejing Olympics. Likely influenced by his working class upbringing, and perhaps augmented by his inborn sense of diligence and adventure, Lee decided instead to turn professional after a chance encounter with legendary American trainer Emanuel Stewart.
Stewart had seen the then-unknown Lee upset one of Stewart’s (and America’s) top middleweight contenders at the 2002 World Juniors in Cuba.Intrigued by the rangy southpaw with power in both hands, Stewart and Lee began a relationship in 2003 that culminated in Lee leaving his homeland behind to follow his dream of becoming a great boxing champion. Stewart offered him a five-year contract with a sizeable signing bonus to come to Detroit, as well as the opportunity to live with him along with a slew of other world class fighters who train at Stewart’s world famous Kronk gym.
“I had to decide if I was willing to go out of my comfort zone and come to America,’’ Lee told TSS (Ron Borges) back in 2008. “My Mum wanted me to stay in Ireland, of course. Detroit is a long way from home. I’d never been there. It was difficult.
“The Irish Sports Council had made a great offer for me to stay amateur for four more years that included funding and a new car and a chance to get an education. It was a chance to try once more for the gold medal in familiar surroundings. The decision wasn’t easy but I finally told me Mum and Dad I had to go and follow my dream.
“Since I was a kid I’d read about all the great fighters. Now I had a chance to try to become one with one of the greatest trainers in the world. I couldn’t pass that up.”
And no more turn aside and brood
Upon love's bitter mystery;
As in his amateur days, Andy Lee was immediately successful when he turned pro. His first professional contest was March 10, 2006, at the famed Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Lee defeated Anthony Cannon by points in six rounds.By 2007, both HBO and ESPN were praising the undefeated middleweight from Ireland-by-way-of-Detroit as one of the sport’s top prospects.Larry Merchant commended him during one broadcast with “he looks like ten million dollars.” Dan Rafael labeled him a virtual can’t miss superstar, lauding Lee as a fighter “as blue chip as they come.”
Lee’s winning ways continued as his adulation grew. He did everything a future champion is supposed to do. He lived and breathed boxing almost 24/7.He fought various types of opponents in various places in both America and abroad. He sparred against the very best competitors he could find.He stayed undefeated.
By the end of 2007, Lee was the Irish super middleweight champion with not even the sky seeming a limit, but it would soon come crashing down.
Lee was undefeated in fifteen fights when he ran into the crude but unrelenting slugger Brian Vera on March 21, 2008. Things went according to the script in the first. Vera hit the canvas and appeared badly shaken with over a minute left in the round, but survived intact. As the fight wore on, Lee pressed the action with vigor but seemed to overexert himself to the point of exhaustion trying to outslug the slugger. The game challenger Vera capitalized by stopping Lee in round seven with a barrage of heavy shots that prompted referee Tony Chiarantano to stop the fight (albeit too quickly by most reasonable standards).
The luster perhaps now worn, all was not lost for Andy Lee. He rebounded in his next fight by stopping Willie Gibbs in ten, and seemed not to miss a beat in his continued rise towards challenging for a title, even if it would take longer now than previously anticipated. In fact, it’d take him twelve more wins and over three more years for him to get another opportunity to right the wrong he suffered against Vera. On October 1, 2011, Lee met the hard-charging Vera again. This time, Lee used his superior boxing skill to virtually shut-out his opponent over ten lopsided rounds.
Andy Lee was no longer a strapping youth destined for amateur greatness.He was no longer a sought after Olympic competitor, or a can’t miss professional prospect. Andy Lee had become a legit, seasoned middleweight contender, and it showed.
“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,” he told TSS back in April.
“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.”
For Fergus rules the brazen cars,
And rules the shadows of the wood,
And the white breast of the dim sea
And all dishevelled wandering stars.
Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. is the WBC middleweight champion of the world.He’s a plodding, heavyset slugger who uses his famous father’s trademark left hook to the body to barrel in on his opponents and inflict damage.
Chavez isn’t a pound-for-pound superstar. No one confuses him for the lineal champion Sergio Martinez, but he’s a legit world titlist who’s proven his mettle against some of the very best in his division. His TKO win over Peter Manfredo last November proved he wasn’t just a paper champion who would struggle against the kind of fighter he should beat handily, and his clear decision win over Marco Antonio Rubio earlier this year perhaps further legitimized his claim to a title.
And don’t tell guys like Chavez, Jr. and Andy Lee that title belts don’t matter.
“Well, it’ll be the biggest fight of my career, but more importantly I want to be WBC champion,” Lee said about the opportunity to fight for a world title.
“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.”
One fight away.
Andy Lee, the son of Tom and Ann Lee, younger brother of brothers Tommy and Ned, brother to three sisters, nephew of Uncle Cheasie, Irish amateur hero, Kronk gym prospect, and dream-chasing contender from Ireland, is one fight away from becoming middleweight world champion.
He is not a folk hero. Not yet. But Andy Lee is standing where only a few Irish-born fighters have stood before, and even fewer, men like Jimmy McLarnin, Jack “Nonpareil” Dempsey and Tom Sharkey, have trodden with ballyhooed success.
A win over Chavez this Saturday in El Paso, in front of what is sure to be a hostile, pro-Chavez and Mexican crowd would set up a showdown with aging linear champion Sergio Martinez.
A win over Martinez and, well…who knows? One day there just might be no lore left more sacred in all the Emerald Isle than that of Andy Lee.
[Author’s Note – Who Goes With Fergus? was published in 1892 by Y.B. Yeats, perhaps Ireland’s most celebrated poet.]
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Notes and Nuggets from Thomas Hauser: Callum Walsh Returns to Madison Square Garden

On Sunday, March 16 (the night before St. Patrick’s Day), Callum Walsh continued his move up the junior-middleweight ranks with a brutal first-round knockout of Dean Sutherland at the Hulu Theatre at Madison Square Garden. The seven-bout card promoted by Tom Loeffler featured seven Irish boxers. Walsh stole the show but two non-Irish fighters on the undercard caught the eye.
In the third fight of the evening, Cletus Seldin (known as “The Hebrew Hammer) took on Yeis Gabriel Solano. The last time Seldin fought at Madison Square Garden (March 15, 2024), he took the ring announcer’s microphone after a majority-decision win, dropped to one knee, held out a diamond engagement ring, and asked one Jessica Ostrowski to marry him. The future Mrs. Seldin (who was clad in black leather) said yes, and the happy couple paraded around the ring together. They were married on September 7.
“So I’ve got a ring now,” Seldin says. “And I love married life because I love Jessica.”
A cynic at ringside on Sunday night wondered if Jessica might serve Cletus with a summons and complaint for divorce in the ring after the fight. Not to worry. The couple seems happily married and, after Seldin eked out a majority decision over Solano (now winless in five fights dating back to 2019), Cletus and Jessica announced in the ring that they’re expecting the birth of their first child.
In the next fight of the evening, Irish heavyweight Thomas Carty (255 pounds) brought a 10-0 (9 KOs) record into the ring to face 409-pound Dajuan Calloway (10-3, 9 KOs, 1 KO by).
Carty-Calloway was a poor match for a prospect. A fighter gets relatively little credit for beating a 400-pound opponent. And the problems posed by a physical confrontation with a 400-pound mountain are considerable.
With fifty seconds left in round two, Carty collapsed to the canvas as Calloway spun him around on the inside. Thomas rose, limping badly on a clearly-injured left knee. And referee Jamil Antoine foolishly allowed the bout to continue.
Carty tried to circle away, fell again. And Antoine – more foolishly – instructed the fighters to fight on. There was a third fall that the referee ruled a knockdown. The bell rang. And then the fight was stopped. It goes in the record book as a knockout at 3:00 of the second round.
Worse for Carty, he now appears to be facing surgery followed by a long rehabilitation. There’s no way to know how much further damage was done to his knee in the forty seconds that he was clearly impaired and under assault by a 409-pound man who was trying to knock him unconscious.
But the night belonged to 23-year-old Callum Walsh.
Walsh is from Cork, Ireland, trains in California with Freddie Roach, and came into the ring with a 12-0 (10 KOs) record.
“He’s a pretty good fighter,” Roach says. “He’s getting better. And he works his ass off in the gym.”
Equally important in an age when social media and hype often supersede a fighter’s accomplishments in the ring as the key to marketability. Walsh has the enthusiastic backing of Dana White.
Callum seems more at ease with the media now than when he fought at Madison Square Garden a year ago. And he has a new look. His hair is shorter and no longer dyed blond.
“It’s a new year, so time for a new look,” Walsh explained. Later, he added, “I don’t want to be a prospect anymore. I want to be a contender. I expected the road to be tough. I’ve never had anything easy in my life. I’ve worked as a fisherman. I’ve worked on a cargo ship. I like this job a lot more. They have big plans for me. But I still have to do my job.”
Sutherland, age 26, was born in Scotland and has lived there his entire life. He came to New York with a 19-1 (7 KOs, 1 KO by) record and, prior to fighting Walsh, noted, “I’m under no illusions. Fighting an Irishman on St. Patrick’s Day in New York; it’s all being built up for him. If it goes to the scorecards, no matter how the fight goes, I’m unlikely to get the decision. But when the bell rings, it will be only me and Callum. I’ve watched his fights. I’ve studied his habits and rhythm. I’ve been through hard fights. He’s untested. This is my big opportunity. I’m not here to be part of Callum’s record.”
Talking is easier than fighting. When the hour of reckoning came, Walsh was faster, stronger, better-skilled, and hit harder than Sutherland. Indeed, Callum was so dominant in the early going that round one had the look of a 10-8 round without a knockdown. Then Sutherland was flattened by a right hook at the 2:45 mark and any thoughts as to scoring became irrelevant.
It was Walsh’s best showing to date, although it’s hard to know the degree to which Sutheralnd’s deficiencies contributed to that showing. What’s clear is that Callum is evolving as a fighter. And he’s the kind of fighter who fits nicely with the concept that Turki Alalshikh and Dana White have voiced for a new boxing promotional company. Whether they’ll be willing to put Walsh in tough is an open issue. UFC puts its fighters in tough.
****
There was a void at ringside on Sunday night. After more than four decades on the job, George Ward is no longer with the New York State Athletic Commission.
Ward was the model of what a commission inspector should be. I watched him in the corner and in dressing rooms countless times over the years. A handful of inspectors were as good as he was. Nobody was better. Later, as a deputy commissioner, he performed the thankless back-of-the-house administrative duties on fight night while other deputy commissioners were enjoying the scene at ringside.
George and Robert Orlando (who, like George, is a former New York City corrections officer) also normally presided over pre-fight weigh-ins. That’s worth mentioning here because it ties to one of the more unfortunate incidents that occurred during the tenure of former NYSAC executive director Kim Sumbler.
On November 1, 2019, Kelvin Gastelum weighed in for a UFC 244 match against Darren Till to be contested at Madison Square Garden. The contract weight for the fight was 186 pounds. It was known throughout the MMA community that Gastelum had been having trouble making weight. Before stepping on the scale, he stripped down completely naked and a towel was lifted in front of him to shield his genitals from public view. Then, to everyone’s surprise, his weight was announced as 184 pounds (two pounds under the contract weight).
How did Gastelum make weight? Video of the weigh-in showed him resting his elbow on his coach as he stood on the scale.
Why am I mentioning this now?
Ward and Orlando know all the tricks. While they were readying for the Gastelum-Till weigh-in, Sumbler told them that they were being replaced on the scales by two other commission employees who had been brought to New York City from upstate. They asked why and were told, “Because I said so.”
George Ward was one of the behind-the-scenes people who make boxing work. He’ll be missed.
****
Six years ago, Gene Pantalone wrote a traditional biography of former world lightweight champion Lew Jenkins. Now he has written – shall we say – a creative biography of lightweight great Freddie Welsh.
Welsh was born in Wales in 1886 but spent most of his ring career in the United States. He captured the lightweight crown by decision over Willie Ritchie in 1914 and relinquished it to Benny Leonard three years later. BocRec.com credits him with a 74-5-7 (34 KOs) ring record in bouts that are verified and were officially scored. If “newspaper decisions” are added to the mix, the numbers rise to 121 wins, 29 losses, and 17 draws. Many of the losses came when Welsh was long past his prime. He’s on the short list of boxing’s greatest fighters. The only knock out he suffered was when he lost the title to Leonard.
Chasing The Great Gatsby is styled as a biography of Welsh and also an advocacy brief in support of the proposition that Welsh was the inspiration and model for the title character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s seminal novel The Great Gatsby. I’m unsure how factually accurate Pantalone’s work is in some places. Also, too often, he uses big words when small ones will suffice. For example:
“He was a pugilistic virtuoso, a pummeling poet with fists of fury and a keen intellect. His duality was evident in every aspect of his being, an amalgamation of the vicious and the benevolent.”
Over the course of 349 pages, that weighs a reader down.
Still, there are some interesting observations and nuggets of information to be mined in Chasing The Great Gatsby. Among my favorites are Pantalone’s description of Jack Dempsey training for his historic 1921 fight against George Carpentier at a “health farm” that Welsh owned in New Jersey; Pantelone’s description of how the stadium that hosted Dempsey-Carpentier was built; and Pantalone’s evaluation of the fight itself, which he calls “a spectacle of titanic proportions,” before adding,” The truth was inescapable. The fight had not lived up to its grandeur, but the event did.”
****
Several of the books that Robert Lipsyte has written during his storied career as a journalist focus on boxing; most notably, Free to Be Muhammad Ali and The Contender (a young adult novel). Lipsyte’s most recent book – Rhino’s Run (published by Harper) – is a young adult novel keyed to high school football, not the sweet science. But the opening sentence bears repeating:
“Punching Josh Kremens didn’t feel as good as I thought it would, and I’d been thinking about it for five years.”
Be honest! Don’t you want to read more?
Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – MY MOTHER and ME is a personal memoir available at Amazon.com. https://www.amazon.com/My-Mother-Me-Thomas-Hauser/dp/1955836191/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5C0TEN4M9ZAH&keywords=thomas+hauser&qid=1707662513&sprefix=thomas+hauser%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-1
In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
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Ever-Improving Callum Walsh KOs Dean Sutherland at Madison Square Garden

Irish luck was not involved as Callum Walsh won the battle of hard-hitting southpaws over Dean Sutherland by knockout on Sunday.
One right hook was all it took.
“You’re never going to beat the Irish,” said Walsh.
In a contest between Celtic super welterweights Walsh (13-0, 11 KOs) retained the WBC Continental America’s title against Sutherland (19-2, 7 KOs) in quick fashion at the Madison Square Garden Theater in Manhattan.
Usually fights between southpaws can be confusing to both contestants. But Walsh had expressed a fondness for fighting lefthanders then vividly exhibited the reasons why.
Walsh, 24, a native of Cork, Ireland, now living and training in Los Angeles, quickly demonstrated why he likes fighting lefties with a steady flow of combinations from the opening bell.
He did not hesitate.
Sutherland, 26, had only lost once before and that was more than two years ago. Against Walsh the Scottish fighter was not hesitant to advance forward but was caught with lefts and right hooks.
After two minutes of scattered blows, Sutherland fought back valiantly and when cornered, Walsh tapped two jabs then unleashed a right hook through the Scottish fighter’s gloves that floored the Aberdeen fighter for the count at 2:45 of the first round.
“I’m feeling very good. Dean Sutherland is a very good opponent. I knew he was going to be dangerous. That was my best opponent,” said Walsh.
It was the fourth consecutive knockout win for Walsh who seems to improve with every single combat.
“I’m looking forward to the future. I’m getting stronger and stronger,” said Walsh who is trained by Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach. “Anyone that comes to me I will take him out.”
Other Bouts
Super featherweight Feargal McCrory (17-1, 9 KOs) survived a knockdown in the fourth to out-muscle Keenan Carbajal (25-5-1, 17 KOs) and batter down the Arizona fighter in the seventh and again in the eighth with volume punching.
Carbajal was deducted a point early for holding in round two, but regained that point when he floored the Irish southpaw during an exchange in the fourth.
Despite suffering a knockdown, McCrory continued stalking Carbajal and floored him in the seventh and eighth with battering blows. Referee Arthur Mercante Jr. stopped the fight without a count.
A rematch between two Irish super middleweights saw Emmet Brennan (6-0) remain undefeated by unanimous decision over Kevin Cronin (9-3-1).
Cronin started quickly with a pressure style and punches flowing against Brennan who resorted to covering and countering. Though it looked like Cronin was building up a lead with a busier style, the judges preferred Brennan’s judicious counters. No knockdowns were scored as all three judges saw Brennan the winner 98-92 after 10 rounds.
Dajuan Calloway (11-3, 9 KOs) emerged the winner by technical knockout over Thomas Carty (10-1) who was unable to continue after two rounds when his leg tangled and thereafter was unable to stand. Because he could not continue the fight was ruled a technical knockout win for Calloway in the heavyweight match.
Also
Cletus “Hebrew Hammer” Seldin (29-1, 23 Kos) defeated Yeis Solano (15-5) by majority decision after eight rounds in a super lightweight contest.
Donagh Keary (1-0) defeated Geral Alicea-Romero (0-1-1) by decision after four.
Light heavyweights Sean O’Bradaigh (0-0-1) and Jefferson Almeida (0-1-1) fought to a majority draw after four.
Photo credit: JP Yim
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Nick Ball Wears Down and Stops TJ Doheny Before the Home Folks in Liverpool

Fighting in his hometown, Liverpool’s five-foot-two fireplug Nick “The Wrecking” Ball stopped TJ Doheny after 10 progressively more one-sided rounds to retain his WBA belt in the second defense of the featherweight title he won with a hard-earned decision over Raymond Ford in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Referee Michael Alexander, with the assent of Doheny’s corner, waived it off following the bell ending Round 10, much to the chagrin of the brave but mildewed Doheny who burst into tears. But then, Doheny’s right eye was closed shut and he was plainly exhausted. This may be the end of the line for the 38-year-old campaigner from Perth, Australia via Portlaois, Ireland who was 26-5 heading in following his first loss inside the distance which came against pound-for-pound king Naoya Inoue.
There were no knockdowns, but Ball (22-0-1, 13 KOs) was docked a point in round nine for throwing Doheny to the canvas after having previously been warned for this infraction. Earlier, both he and Doheny were warned for an incident that could have ended the bout prematurely. At the end of the first round, Ball extricated himself from a headlock by kicking Doheny in the back of his knee. The challenger’s leg appeared to buckle as he returned to his stool.
Going forward, Ball has many options. The 28-year-old Liverpudlian purportedly relishes a unification fight with WBC belt-holder Stephen Fulton, but the decision ultimately rests with Ball’s promoter Frank Warren.
Other Bouts of Note
In a 12-round bantamweight contest that was close on the scorecards but yet a monotonous affair, Liverpool’s Andrew Cain won a split decision over former WBC flyweight title-holder Charlie Edwards. The scores were 116-112 and 115-114 favoring Cain with judge Steve Gray submitting a disreputable 115-113 tally for Edwards. At stake were a trio of regional titles.
The science of boxing, they say, is about hitting without getting hit. Charlie Edwards is adept at the latter but the hitting part is not in his DNA. He was on his bicycle from the get-go, a style that periodically brought forth a cascade of boos. Cain, who trains in the same gym with Nick Ball, was never able to corner him – Edwards was too elusive – but Cain, to his credit, never lost his composure.
In improving to 14-1 (12), Cain achieved a measure of revenge, in a sense. In his last documented amateur bout, in 2014, Cain was defeated by Charlie’s brother Sunny Edwards, also a former world title-holder at the professional level. Heading in, Charlie Edwards (20-2, 1 NC) was unbeaten in his last 13 which included a comfortable decision over Cristofer Rosales in his flyweight title fight. Charlie relinquished that belt when he could no longer make the weight.
Showboating Cuban lightweight Jadier Herrera, who fought 13 of his first 14 pro fights in his adopted home of Dubai, advanced to 17-0 (15 KOs) with a seventh-round stoppage of spunky but outclassed Mexican import Jose Macias (21-4-2). The official time was 2:31 of round seven.
An all-Liverpool affair between super flyweights Jack Turner (11-0, 10 KOs) and Ryan Farrag (23-6) was over in a jiff. The match, which went next-to-last in the bout order, ended at the 42-second mark of round two. A barrage of punches climaxed by a left hook sent Farrag down hard and the referee waived it off.
The noted spoiler Ionut Baluta, whose former victims include Andrew Cain, forged another upset with a 10-round split decision over local fan favorite Brad Strand. The judges favored Baluta 98-91 and 96-94, out-voting the Italian judge whose 97-93 tally for Strand was deemed the most accurate by the TV pundits.
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