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Boxing has truly outdone itself lately, with numerous new self-inflicted controversies rocking the sport which have simultaneously felt all too familiar. I have THOUGHTS about the dumpster fire of the sport’s multitude of recent problems, issues that go far deeper than the Benn-Eubank Jr. fiasco, and will be covering that in the next Double Dutch. That will drop soon. This edition, however, is dedicated to ‘Fighter’, the finest boxing book I’ve read in god knows how long, a memoir chronicling the life and career of Andy Lee. Reading it got me thinking about how hard it can be for sure-fire, can’t-miss fighters to achieve their potential in this crazy sport, with so many pitfalls for them to navigate…
Riding the waves
THE LONG READ
Selecting your holiday reading material is a serious business.
Get it right, and it adds another element of enjoyment to what is supposed to be the most carefree part of your year. Get it wrong, however, and it can have a pretty big impact on your days in the sun. To say it could ruin the holiday might be a fairly large over-exaggeration, but if you are stuck somewhere hot without the right reading material to hand it’s something you’ll spend most of your days there regretting.
Back in June, when I delivered a boxing postcard from the White Isle of Ibiza, I managed to satisfactorily walk the holiday reading tightrope with expert precision, picking Andy Lee’s excellent memoir ‘Fighter’, co-written with Niall Kelly. As we are now hurtling towards the end of the traditional sunny holiday season, unless you’re lucky enough to be planning a winter trip to somewhere amazing like the Maldives, I find myself reflecting back on the book and the wider context of Lee’s career in the sport.
Not only does ‘Fighter’ go beyond many boxing biographies in delivering some almost poetic verse on the realities of what it is like to be a championship-level fighter, but it also chronicles a fascinating transatlantic career in detail; the fact that it was the perfect length to accommodate the second, post-partying, poolside half of our Ibiza trip was an added bonus.
Back in the mid-2000s, ‘Irish’ Andy Lee was one of the hottest prospects in boxing. A highly-touted and successful amateur fighting for a country without a great tradition of boxing success, Lee went into the 2004 Olympics carrying the hopes and expectations of a nation. Winning a medal, perhaps even Ireland’s first-ever gold medal in the sport, was the aim for the prodigious young fighter. In a major surprise, however, Lee lost in the second round to Hassan N’Dam via a countback, the closest possible result in amateur boxing.
Though he initially agreed to remain in the Irish Olympic programme, aiming to right the wrong with a podium finish in Beijing in 2008, Lee eventually changed his mind and decided to go pro under the tutelage of legendary trainer Emanuel Steward, moving to Detroit and the world-famous Kronk gym. A nineteen-year-old Irish dude with a considerable amateur rep fighting out of possibly the most notable and high-profile African American gym of all time, Andy was always going to grab the imagination of the boxing world when he made his pro debut in early 2006. As he rose to 15-0, with 10 KOs along the way, Steward wasn’t the only one labelling Lee as a sure-fire future world champion.
Steward certainly didn’t choose to temper the hyperbole when it came to talking about his Irish charge in early 2008…
"I’ve never had a fighter that I’ve rated higher. To be good is one thing but to be great takes a great passion for what you do and Andy loves to fight. He is the complete package – good-looking, intelligent, explosive power, physically structured to be a great fighter. There are more Irish people spread out around the world than any other race and I honestly believe Andy could be the biggest draw in boxing history”.
Professional boxing though, as we continue to be reminded of so regularly, is the Wild West of the sporting world. So many hot prospects, told by all and sundry that they are guaranteed to make it to the very top, encounter unexpected potholes and tripwires as they attempt to navigate the lawless land of the fight game. Often, it is that very first major bump in the road which proves the fatal blow in their hopes and dreams, in their ability to fulfil their potential, something which they are.
“In boxing, you’re only ever one or two losses away from becoming yesterday’s story, from the end of your career. Your life, your living, is on the line. Your prospects, your opportunities, they all hinge on the outcome, all depend on you winning. When you’re in a fight, you are effectively making huge life decisions every second, with every punch you throw, with every move you make.” - Andy Lee, ‘Fighter’
For our protagonist, that first major pro boxing life crisis came in March 2008, in what was his debut on ESPN. Brian Vera was supposed to be just a stepping stone in Lee’s inexorable rise, an opportunity for the Irish star to introduce himself to an expectant American audience before he agreed an even bigger TV and promotional deal. It rapidly became something entirely different.
Carelessness in the camp which saw Lee drop too much weight prior to the fight, a nasty cut delivered by a clash of heads and a somewhat premature stoppage all contributed to what was a huge upset win for Vera on the night. In the end, however, a lack of experience seemed to be the defining issue; Lee lost control of the fight long before the referee called a halt to proceedings in round seven. “You were winning the fight”, Steward told Lee as he lay in hospital just a few hours later. “You had him down. And then you fought the wrong fight. That was a big fight. You know it’s going to be hard to come back from this”.
Lee manages to encapsulate in ‘Fighter’ just how demoralising this kind of defeat can feel for a boxer who seemingly had the world at their feet only moments earlier. Even if some of the details differ, for the hottest prospects who suffer a high-profile setback, the emotional thrust is always the same…
“My unbeaten record is gone. The Top Rank deal is definitely gone; they won’t want anything to do with a loser…There’ll be no HBO fight in June, no stepping-stone to a world title fight…All of the doubters, everyone who said that I was an Emmanuel Steward hype job, I can see the smirks of vindication. I can’t even offer a response”.
The long, hard road back from a loss like this can be the hardest for any fighter, and not all are cut out to recover. After delivering some major fight nights in his home nation and eventually settling the score by outclassing Vera in their 2011 rematch, part of a twelve-fight winning streak across the next four years, Lee did manage to secure a shot at becoming a world champion after all. In June 2012, he landed a fight with WBC middleweight kingpin Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Chavez Jr. might be seen as a bit of a joke figure these days, but back in 2012 he was being positioned as a star on HBO, despite sometimes less-than-stellar opposition and the cracks starting to appear in the form of arrests, questionable discipline and even the first of his failed drug tests. But promoters, broadcasters and sanctioning bodies saw money in Chavez Jr. - the heir to a true Mexican boxing legend’s kingdom - and would do what they could to ensure that they would be able to cash in.
The opportunity Andy Lee had worked so hard for, however, the world title shot which so many had called his destiny, soon turned into a nightmare.
If you ever want an affirmation of how unfairly weighted the odds can be in the favour of the ‘home’ boxer, the description of Lee’s experience challenging Chavez in El Paso, Texas in ‘Fighter’ is as good a summation as any. A war between drug cartels had initially seen the fight potentially cancelled or moved before a last-minute truce meant the event could proceed, and Lee knew he was “going into the lion’s den” long before he arrived in El Paso.
That was just the beginning of his jarring experience…
“For the first time in my life, I’m the challenger. The B side. And that means I have to put up with B side treatment. I know that’s the deal; it doesn’t make it any less disgusting. They do everything they can to undermine you, and there’s no shame or pretence. They want to leave you under no illusion that everything is stacked against you. They want you to feel like there’s no way you can win a fair fight. Fairness left town a long time ago”.
In ‘Fighter’, Lee details how team Chavez continually looked for small (or maybe large) advantages: from being sent on spurious public workouts in the middle of nowhere, to refusing to have the champion’s gloves weighed in full view of both sides, being stuck in a broom cupboard for a dressing room, Chavez ballooning up in weight overnight, and the use of a tiny ring which played into the Mexican’s style. Only one fighter was being set up for victory that night.
In the end, it was all too much and Chavez stopped Lee in round seven. “This isn’t sport”, notes Lee of the Chavez loss, “there’s nothing honourable or decent about this. This is not what I’ve been dreaming of. They can keep their tainted belt. F**king keep it.”
Andy Lee, one of boxing’s hottest prospects of the 2000s, had managed to once again hit a massive stumbling block - but he was not defeated for good.
It would be another two years, five wins - including one of the great comeback knockouts, against John Jackson on the Cotto-Martinez undercard in the summer of 2014 - and a change of trainers (to the UK-based Adam Booth) before Lee would be able to attain another world title shot. Showing the mental fortitude which abandons many fighters who hit turbulence after being touted as the next big thing, Lee would not let his second opportunity at achieving his dreams pass him by.
In December 2014, at the age of 30 and after a lifetime’s work, Andy Lee defeated Matt Korobov - himself a once-touted amateur who never quite delivered on his promise in the pros - by sixth-round stoppage to claim the WBO middleweight world title.
“I’ve seen this moment a thousand times in my head”, details Lee in ‘Fighter’. “Visualised how it would feel to watch the count hit ten or to be pushed away by the referee, and finally understand the beauty that life can be one way in that moment, and in the very next will never be the same again. You win belts and you lose belts, but once you’re a champion, you’re a champion forever.”
Despite later losing his title to Billy Joe Saunders, the history books will indeed forever state that Andy Lee became a world champion. He would have had a notable career whatever the result that night against Korobov, but for Lee himself, the journey would not have been satisfactorily completed.
Say what you will about boxing, lord knows I have and will no doubt continue to do, but the perseverance shown by fighters to achieve their goals in the face of a business of chaos, will never fail to amaze me. It is something which boxing can still deliver like no other sport.
Reflecting on Lee’s story, it’s interesting to look back at how some other fighters with huge potential have over recent years navigated choppy waters. I found myself looking back at the recent recipients of ESPN’s Prospect of the Year award, one of the boxing media’s top barometers of future superstars, which is given to the individual deemed to be the pick of the bunch of the entire industry’s up-and-comers.
Though Lee himself wasn’t awarded the prize, ESPN did call him “the next great middleweight star” in 2007. “If you could get stock in a prospect”, they said in December of that year, “he'd be near the top of the buy list”.
Dissecting those boxers who have been awarded the status as ESPN’s top prospect in the entire sport over the last fifteen years, many have gone on to become world champions, or still have the chance to. Not all, however, have done so, or even got close, and even those who have were forced to overcome unexpected pitfalls along the way.
ESPN Prospects of the Year - 2006-2021
2006: Andre Berto
2007: Amir Khan
2008: Victor Ortiz
2009: Daniel Jacobs
2010: Canelo Alvarez
2011: Gary Russell Jr.
2012: David Price
2013: Vasyl Lomachenko
2014: Felix Verdejo
2015: Errol Spence Jr.
2016: Erickson Lubin
2017: Ryan Garcia
2018: Teofimo Lopez
2019: Vergil Ortiz Jr.
2020: Edgar Berlanga
2021: Xander Zayas
Some of the more recent winners - Zayas, Berlanga, Ortiz Jr., even Ryan Garcia - are still working towards establishing their true status in the sport.
Meanwhile, even the can’t-miss, guaranteed superstars from that list have had to overcome unplanned hiccups to achieve what was considered their destiny.
Vasyl Lomachenko - arguably one of the finest amateur boxers to ever lace up the gloves - arrived on the pro scene with the aim of breaking the records for winning a world title wins in just his second fight, but came unstuck when shooting to become WBO featherweight champion against the wily and unscrupulous Orlando Salido in March 2014. Coming in overweight (so voluntarily dropping his world title on the scales nut giving him a considerable size advantage), Salido employed numerous dirty tactics and had the benefit of a lenient referee to upset Lomachenko on a split decision, despite a late surge from the precociously talented Ukrainian.
Lomachenko had to make do with simply equalling the record for the number of fights taken to win a world title, rather than breaking it, when he won the same vacant WBO featherweight title in bout number three, a decision victory over Gary Russell Jr. - another former prospect of the year winner - just over three months later.
Looking at the list of ESPN’s chosen ones, a name which stands out is that of David Price in 2012, a fighter who was most certainly eaten up by the dodgiest elements of the boxing system.
Price was, in most people’s eyes, Britain’s heir apparent to the legacy of Lennox Lewis as the pre-eminent heavyweight in the sport, even down to the detail of sharing promoter Frank Maloney with ‘The Lion’. Maloney said that Price failing to become a world champion would be “the biggest disappointment of my life”.
An Olympic bronze and Commonwealth gold medallist who, by the time he was made ESPN’s future superstar of choice, had compiled a KO-heavy 15-0 resume, Price seemed to have the boxing world before him, more than his then-bitter rival Tyson Fury. A modern heavyweight battle of Britain seemed inevitable for Fury’s recently-won British and Commonwealth titles, but Tyson’s team pulled out of the bout at purse bid stage and went a different route. Although there were considerable bumps along the way, hindsight demonstrates that it was the correct decision for Fury’s career.
Desperate to legitimise his own lofty billing as the glamour division’s heir apparent, Price instead went full speed ahead into a clash with Tony Thompson in early 2013. Thompson, who had most recently suffered his second defeat to long-reigning unified heavyweight kingpin Wladimir Klitschko, was a legitimate world-level competitor and a huge step up for the still-green Price at this stage, but the race to validate his position meant the Liverpool fighter took the risk anyway.
Things didn’t end well for Price, not once but twice. Back-to-back 2013 stoppage defeats to Thompson (in the second and fifth rounds respectively) were an enormous blow to the great hope of British heavyweight boxing.
After the second knockout loss, Thompson failed a drug test and was banned from boxing in Britain for 18 months, but it was Price’s career which was in a far more critical state.
Thompson was not the only adversary who was subsequently popped for PEDs. Two years after the second Thompson defeat, as he attempted to rebuild his career at European level and once again become a contender, Price was knocked unconscious by Erkan Teper in brutal fashion in the second round of their bout to determine the new EBU heavyweight title holder. Teper later tested positive for a banned substance, and the bout was deemed a no contest, but force Price the damage was already done and his career never recovered.
In a parallel timeline, perhaps David Price would have made it at world level, or maybe his potential had been somewhat overstated by ESPN and others - he himself has said that he has learnt to “accept that you're not at the level of fighters you were once told you were going to be competing against”.
Either way, whatever momentum Price had gained was stopped in its tracks by boxers who ended up testing positive for an illegal advantage, and he was never able to get that drive back. He can rightly look back and feel wronged by a sport which is still inadequately dealing with drug cheats.
In the end, it was Tyson Fury who ended the reign of Klitschko in 2015 to become heavyweight champion of the world, five months after his rival had been stopped by drug cheat Teper. Price - the fleeting sure thing of the glamour division - could only watch from afar whilst his own once-glittering boxing future fell apart before his eyes. These days, Price appears content with his lot, with the boxing moments in the sunshine he did manage to achieve, despite everything the sport threw at him over the years.
What we see as fans is only usually a small part of the story - those prospects aiming to live up to their promise are invariably doing it within a fractured, disorganised business, with numerous parties connected to their careers sticking their oar in. Take Andy Lee, for example, who at one stage had investors in Chicago, Steward in Detroit, himself training in New York, and his fights being planned in Ireland. As he details in ‘Fighter’, the actual boxing can end up not being at the top of the agenda…
“I’m supposed to be concentrating on my boxing, finding a way to get my career back on track. Instead, I’m living in New York, I’m not speaking to Emanuel, and I’m getting legal letters to try and stop me from fighting. It’s non-stop phone calls and emails and the stress and uncertainty is overwhelming.”
Even in Lee’s time at the Kronk gym, examples of other much-touted fighters failing to launch were prevalent. As he notes in ‘Fighter’, the gym’s top dog when he arrived was Johnathon Banks - a cruiserweight with an excellent amateur pedigree, an unbeaten record and a strong knockout percentage over limited opposition. Lee notes in his book that Banks was the golden child of the Kronk, but the Irishman also noticed that he wasn’t doing those endless early morning runs and putting in the extra work which Lee had been.
In February 2009, with a record of 20-0, Banks had his own world title tilt, challenging IBF cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek in Newark, New Jersey.
In the end, Banks was stopped in a brutal fashion in the eighth round. Maybe those small but important missing training details Lee had noticed made the difference on the night, it can’t have helped; perhaps any number of external contributing factors to which the public wasn’t privy had contributed; or possibly Banks just came up against a granite-chinned champion at the peak of their powers, and the result would always have been the same. Whatever the case, Banks never came close to a world title opportunity again.
Lee’s story also offers a demonstration of how relationships, as in life, can be so important for a sustained career in boxing. Being a hot prospect certainly doesn’t last forever, and boxing is a fragile career at the best of times, so having a post-competition plan B is vital.
After retiring, Andy Lee has become an excellent analyst and commentator, along with finding a new calling as a trainer, becoming the number two man to Tyson Fury’s current chief trainer Sugar Hill Steward, bringing his relationship with the Kronk gym full circle. Lee has since become the chief trainer to Joseph Parker. Johnathan Banks has also cultivated a post-fight career which saw him take on the mantle of head trainer, initially for Wladimir Klitschko from his mentor Steward, in a run which continues to this day with the American the current head trainer of Gennady Golovkin.
The eternal cycle goes on for the Kronk team as well, with highly-touted British Olympic silver medallist Ben Whittaker’s fledgling pro career being overseen by Sugar Hill. Clearly one of the most talented and charismatic UK fighters to arrive on the scene in some time - something which the man himself seems all too aware of - who knows how Whittaker will react if and when he encounters his first major pro boxing obstacle.
Andy Lee discusses in ‘Fighter’ the notion that, in boxing, fighters are making huge life decisions on the fly in every fight and how doing something a moment too early or late “can change the course of your life”. In his case, he chose the right decision enough times to finally live up to his potential and become a world champion. Lee achieved his goal, something which many of boxing’s most touted fighters fail to do.
Being a hot prospect and cultivating your skills is almost the easy part. The trick is having the ability and mental fortitude to recover from setbacks and still have the focus to stay the course, whilst possessing the wherewithal to create a long-term career in the process, in a sport as crazy as boxing. No mean feat.
Andy Lee’s book ‘Fighter’ is available from Amazon and numerous other sources, if you don’t want to give Jeff Bezos any more money. I highly recommend picking up a copy.