IN a move that will surely put him closer to challenging Kelly Pavlik (33-0, 29 KOs) for the WBO/WBC world middleweight titles, Limerick native Andy Lee (15-0, 12 KOs) is in negotiations to sign a promotional agreement with Top Rank.
Though Lee’s manager Emanuel Steward has been in talks with Bob Arum‘s company before, this time around the two parties are making significant progress.
“Talks are going well. There are so many people involved. It is more that just myself and Emanuel and them, it is also lawyers and advisers,” Lee told the Irish Voice on Monday.
“You can only make a deal once, so you have
to make sure it is 100% right to get the full benefit from it. It could take a little time but talks are going well.”
Arum’s company also manages Pavlik, so an accord between Lee’s camp and Top Rank could pave the way to a meeting between the two down the road.
“It clears a lot of obstacles out of the way if both fighters are under the same promoter. It makes things easier. Hopefully if he remains champion and if I get into the position (to challenge) then it should be an easy fight to make,” said Lee.
Though nothing is set in stone, the advantages of such a deal are obvious to the 23-year-old.
“I already have agreed to have some fights in Ireland with Brian Peters, and I am going to honor that agreement with him. But America is the place where the big fights are, and I want to move on with my career and have the chance to have bigger fights and hopefully to win titles,” offers Lee.
“This is the essential move really. It is the big step forward in securing those big fights that I want.”
Lee’s next fight will be at Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut on March 21 on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights against former Contender star Brian Vera (15-1, 9 KOs). He is just after a solid week of training and started sparring Monday with middleweight Angel Hernandez from Chicago and former Contender participant, light middleweight Cornelius KP Bundrage from Detroit among his partners.
As is his style, the unruffled Lee is prepared to leave the wheeling and dealing to others. “That is Emanuel’s job to take care of that, and my advisers and lawyers. I have good people that I trust, who are working in my best interest. I only check in about it every now and then to see how it is going. My focus is on training.”
Universally recognized as a top prospect and trained by hall of famer Manny Steward, Lee moving into the Top Rank fold would be the final part of the infrastructure, the machine, so to speak, needed to fully realize his potential.
Meanwhile, light middleweight Henry Coyle (6-1, 6 KOs) was in action at the Pepsi Coliseum in Indianapolis on Tuesday, February 26, when he defeated Rashaan Abdul Blackburn (8-42-2) by TKO in the fifth stanza of the scheduled six-round contest.
“I had him down in the second with a body shot and a left hook, and after a series of headshots in the fifth, the referee stood in and stopped it,” Coyle, who fought this match at a catchweight of 158, told the Irish Voice from Chicago.
Blackburn was in survival mode from the get-go, spoiling and continuously holding and frustrating Coyle.
“He could be still there, and I could be still there trying to hit him,” joked the Geesala man.
Coyle will not be fighting on the “A Fistful of Shamrocks” March 15 New York card, but has a few irons in the fire for a bout during March. The Mayo native will fight in his adopted home of Chicago in April and is happy with his progress to date in 2008.
“I am in shape and things are going mighty, so far so good,” says Coyle.
In other news from Ireland, bantamweight John Joe Nevin became the second Irish boxer to book a flight to China this summer when he qualified for the Olympics at the international boxing tournament in Pescara on the Italian Adriatic coast.
The Cavan native qualified when he won his semifinal bout against Ukrainian Maksym Tretyak 32-16. With the pressure off the 18-year-old, he went on to win the final of the competition by beating Veaceslav Gojan from Moldova 17-10.
Nevin will join light flyweight Paddy Barnes, who secured his spot at the World Championship in Chicago last October, at the Games. The other Irish team members looking to qualify have one last chance to do so at a tournament in Athens on April 7.
Boston’s Orpheum Theater will host 451 Promotions! and Celtic Pride Boxing’s Celtic Invasion – Show Your Pride on March 15. Four Irish fighters will make their U.S. debut in Beantown on St. Patrick’s Day weekend — Cork welterweight Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan (1-0), light heavyweight Dubliner Jonathan “Thunderbolt” O’Brien (6-2-1), Mayo cruiserweight Mike “The Storm” Sweeney (3-0), and Dublin featherweight Patrick Hyland (9-0).
Patrick’s brother Paul Hyland (super bantamweight, 9-0) was set to feature, but will instead fight on the undercard of the Andy Lee/ Brian Vera fight in Mohegan Sun on March 21 against Harvey Murray (2-0-2). Tickets start at $40. For more information, contact ticketmaster.com or the Orpheum Box Office.
It will be a busy weekend of Irish-themed boxing in New England as Rhode Island will have its own battle, Italian-Irish style, on March 14 in Providence.
Rumble at the River will see Team Italy, a team of pros captained by Victor Paz , take on Team Ireland, coached by Mickey Ward. The headline bout will see former Contender star and Joe Calzaghe victim “The Pride of Providence” Peter Manfredo, Junior (28-5, 13 KOs) against Shane “The Irish Hitman” Benfield (17-1, 9 KOs), of York, South Carolina.
“St. Joseph’s Day is a very important Italian holiday as St. Patrick’s is for the Irish. We decided to promote and Italian-Irish themed show on the preceding weekend of the two holidays,” said promoter Jimmy Burchfield.
Rumble at the River tickets are priced at $40, $50, $75, $100, and $150, and may be purchased by calling Classic Entertainment and Sports at 401-724-2253/2254.