ANDY Lee’s coach Adam Booth believes the Limerick southpaw doesn’t earn enough respect for his boxing skills because of his trademark power.
The Limerick native has four knock-out wins in his last six outings, including last year’s stoppage of Matt Korobov to win the vacant WBO middleweight title.
Lee was named in the top 10 pound-for-pound punchers in world boxing by American broadcasters HBO earlier this year, but Booth insists there’s much more to his game than a devastating hook.
“That doesn’t do justice to Andy’s amateur career,” Booth told The Irish Post, when asked if Lee relies too heavily on his punching power.
“He’s a 6ft 2in southpaw, who boxes. He’s a boxer primarily and a puncher secondary.
“It’s just that, of recent times, he’s had some dramatic stoppage wins and now all of a sudden this label has been hung around his neck.
“You don’t win fights by just clenching your fists and throwing the big shots, you have to set them up, and he can box and he knows what he’s doing.”
Lee will make the first official defence of his WBO title against mandatory challenger Billy Joe Saunders at Manchester Arena this Saturday night, and Booth says his man is more than ready for the task.
“He knows what he’s got to do,” he said. “We’re giving adequate respect to the challenge that Billy Joe poses and the skill set he has and Andy is prepared for it.”
