Former WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee has proven himself both as a fighter and as a trainer in the world of boxing, emerging is one of the leading minds amongst the world’s top cornermen over the last couple of years. Now, Lee has revealed which sparring partner was the hardest puncher that he faced across an 11-year professional career.
After being knocked out in the second round of the Athens 2004 Olympics by eventual world champion Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, Lee turned professional and signed to work under the late, great Emanuel Steward at the world-famous Kronk Gym in Detroit.
Success in the professional ranks soon followed, as Lee challenged for and won the Irish super-middleweight title in his 14th professional contest, despite debuting just 20 months previous, although Lee’s progress was soon halted when he suffered a surprise stoppage defeat to Brian Vera two fights later.
However, Lee avenged the loss to Vera in 2011, shortly after claiming the NABA and NABF middleweight crown and moved on to a clash with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for the WBC middleweight world title in June 2012, losing out by knockout once again, whilst ahead on all three scorecards. Nevertheless, Lee would get his moment in 2014, knocking out the previously undefeated Matvey Korobov to pick up the vacant WBO strap.
‘Irish’ did not manage to defend his belt, as a split-draw against Peter Quillin was rendered a non-title bout after Quillin missed weight, before losing a majority-decision and the title to Billy Joe Saunders in 2015.
On his social media, Andy Lee recalled the hardest punching sparring partner that he faced during his career, awarding Canada’s former light-heavyweight world champion Adonis Stevenson with that honour in response to a highlight-reel of Stevenson’s knockout wins.
Probably the hardest puncher I ever sparred. https://t.co/x8SNLReWMh
— Andy Lee (@AndyLeeBoxing) August 18, 2024
“Probably the hardest puncher that I ever sparred.”
Following in the footsteps of Steward and the rest of the Kronk team, Andy Lee has aided SugarHill Steward in the training of Tyson Fury in recent years but took the reigns as a lead when appointed as Joseph Parker’s trainer in 2021 for the Kiwi’s fight with Derek Chisora. Parker edged a split-decision win over ‘Del Boy’ in his first fight under Lee but the extra months showed in the rematch with Chisora just seven months later – where Parker beautifully boxed his way to a unanimous-decision.
In recent months, Lee’s knowledge has been lauded, as Parker has shown a marked improvement and re-emerged as a threat to the heavyweight titles. A shock win over Deontay Wilder back in December got in the way of the long-awaited showdown between Wilder and Anthony Joshua, but a majority-decision victory against heavyweight bogeyman Zhilei Zhang is the performance that has proved Parker’s abilities once again.
At 32-years-old, the New Zealander now holds the WBO interim heavyweight title and appears well poised for a shot at the victor of Oleksandr Usyk and Fury’s rematch or alternatively for a vacant belt should Usyk/Fury decide to drop the WBO during the aftermath of their second battle.
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