Irish Icon Lee Primed For Belfast Comeback Fight

Irish middleweight contender, Andy Lee (28W-2L, 20KOs) will return to the ring this Saturday evening against the durable Anthony Fitzgerald (13W-3L, 1 KO) at Belfast’s Odyssey Arena live on Sky Sports in the Betfair’s ‘Unfinished Business’ boxing event.

This will be Lee’s first outing since he suffered a seventh-round stoppage loss when he bravely challenged Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for the WBC middleweight title on June 16 in El Paso, Texas. Before the stoppage Lee was ahead on all three judges’ scorecards.

In September 2012 Lee made a career decision to relocate his training base to London and team up with Adam Booth, one of the most respected and sought after boxing trainers in the UK.

Lee believes fights in 2013 will provide him with the opportunity to rebuild his career and the Fitzgerald fight is the first step on that road back to title contention.

“I’m training now with Adam Booth, he’s an excellent world class trainer. We have worked hard together over the last five months in the gym reappraising my boxing style and making adjustments to my game. He’s a very smart and strategic trainer and he has taught me a lot of new things in a short period of time.”

“A new location and trainer has reinvigorated me, it is a new beginning and chapter in my life. I can’t wait to step into the ring and get back to winning ways. Anthony Fitzgerald is a game and gutsy fighter and he is looking for an upset.”

“However, I’m totally focused on the job at hand, I will be in Belfast to take care of business and leave nothing to chance. I intend to put in a quality performance and showcase my skills with an impressive win come Saturday night.”

“I would like to thank Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Sport for this opportunity to fight in Belfast live on Sky TV.”

Lee is presently ranked WBC # 7 and WBA #9; Team Lee see a win on Saturday night opening doors in the UK and Ireland for domestic fights with fighters like Darren Barker, Matthew Macklin or Martin Murray and also complementing and progressing his boxing career in the USA.

The Irish southpaw has repositioned himself and aims to exploit and benefit from two supply streams of fights on both sides of the Atlantic on his comeback trail. But first things first, Anthony Fitzgerald needs to be defeated and taken care of.

Belfast is the boxing capitol of Ireland and Andy Lee is confident he will imposingly defeat Anthony Fitzgerald ‘The Pride of Dublin’ at the Odyssey Arena in another memorable night of boxing in the City.

The main headliner bouts on Saturday will feature Carl Frampton challenging Kiko Martinez for his European super bantamweight title and Martin Lindsay will compete for the British and Commonwealth featherweight title against Lee Selby.

A host of other local fighters will also be in action; Martin Rogan, Jamie Conlon, Eamon O’Kane, Marc McCullough and Daniel McShane.

Sergio Martinez, WBC middleweight champion who promotes Spanish fighter Kiko Martinez plans to travel and be at ringside on the evening.

Floor and tiered seats are on sale from the Odyssey Arena website www.odysseyarena.com
priced £30, £40 and £60 and Ringside tickets at £100. Ringside tickets at £100 and Inner-Ringside VIP tickets at £150 are both available from Matchroom Boxing’s website www.matchroomboxing.com