For middleweight titlist Andy Lee, it has been a long and winding journey to his first world title.
The hard-punching Irishman will make his first title defense on April 11 against former titlist Peter Quillin (31-0, 22 KOs) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York (NBC, 8:30 p.m. ET).
Lee (34-2, 24 KOs) rallied to win the belt with a come-from-behind stoppage win over Matt Korobov in December’s vacant title bout. Now Lee will take on the unbeaten Quillin for the same title that Quillin controversially vacated last year.
Lee was a recent guest on ESPN.com’s “Making The Rounds,” where he talked about winning his first title and preparing for Quillin:
You won the title with a TKO over Korobov. What did that win mean for your career? At that stage, fighting Korobov was make-or-break for me, really, and it was my last chance to prove that I was a world-class fighter. I fought for a title in 2012 but was unsuccessful [a TKO7 loss to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.], and it took me a long time to get back to that level. It meant everything to me because losing that fight — it would have been really the end of my hopes of being a world champion. So it took a long time to get back to that level, and I knew it would be too hard to go again at the age of 30 and try to fight my way back up the rankings and get another shot. So it was everything to me — that fight was make-or-break.
The Korobov win was also your second straight come-from-behind win by knockout. What does that say about your mental toughness to literally fight through a bout that — at times — is not going your way? Well they were both tough fights, but at no stage did I ever think I was going to lose, even in the [John] Jackson fight when I was dropped pretty heavily in the first round for the first time in my career. I got up and fought my way back in and it was a very tough fight, but I knocked him out. The same with Korobov; they had me losing every round but I thought the longer it was going on, the more I was drawing into the fight and becoming more comfortable. I could see the expression on his face was changing the longer the fight was going. I was getting stronger and he was getting more timid. It just proves that I have a good resolve and I believe in myself. I know that with my power over a 12-round fight, at some point we are going to have to exchange. If I connect at the right time with the right punch, I can knock anybody out, so it gives me a lot of confidence in myself going into any fight.
You had a special relationship with your late trainer Emanuel Steward. What would his reaction have been to you winning that world title? He would have been over the moon, but I think he would have felt vindicated because for a long time — especially early in my career when he and I were always together — he would tell people and introduce me as, “Here is Andy Lee, the future middleweight champion of the world.” And people used to be like, “Yeah, yeah, we’ll see.” Finally winning that title meant a lot to me because it meant that I made his words come true and proved him right after all those years. Even though he’s no longer with us, he’s still right, and it meant a lot for me to do it for myself — and in some part of me it meant a lot to do it for Emanuel as well.
You’ll be facing an unbeaten former titlist in Quillin. What makes him such a difficult challenge? Peter Quillin is a good fighter and he’s a good athlete. He can punch and he can box. He has good reaction. His athleticism, I would say, is his best attribute, also his power and his punch selection. I think it’s a very evenly-matched contest. We both have strengths, and I think whoever employs their game plan the better on the night will win the fight. I think it’s an intriguing fight for neutrals to watch the fight. Me, now the champion, and he, the former champion — the winner of this fight will be there among the top two middleweights in the world. Gennady Golovkin and the winner of this fight will hopefully meet down the line.
When you look at this clash of styles on paper, will it be more important for you to be the boxer or the puncher? I think a little bit of both. When the fight is at long distance, to box — and I’m looking forward to showing people that I can box. After my last two fights, people may get the wrong impression of me as this come-from-behind, Arturo Gatti type of guy. And that’s great to be even said next to Gatti, who is a legend. But I pride myself on being a technical boxer and I hope to do that against Quillin. And then when the time comes for me to dig down and fight him and let him feel my power — and I’m punching extremely hard at the moment — I think I have a good chance of scoring a knockout if I can land the right punch.
