An historic all-Traveller world middleweight title fight between Andy Lee and the unbeaten British and European champion Billy Joe Saunders in London or Ireland next year is a distinct possibility.
The 30-year-old southpaw Lee fights the unbeaten Russian Matt Korobov for the vacant WBO belt at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas on Saturday night and says he is happy to fulfil a mandatory commitment against Saunders, who beat Chris Eubank Jr in an eliminator two weeks ago.
“That’s my dream,” Lee said from the US on Friday night, “to win a world title and then defend it in Ireland, in Limerick or Dublin – Dublin would be more likely. It’s not a reality until I win but, once I win the fight, if it’s Billy Joe, it’s Billy Joe. It doesn’t matter.”
He said Saunders, who lives on a Travellers’ site in Hatfield, impressed in beating Eubank on points. “Experience was key. Billy Joe knew what to do, he’d been there before and he kind of shut him down for the first six rounds. Then it was always going to be uphill for Eubank. To give away the first six rounds was almost suicide really.”
Korobov, a decorated amateur who has had a low-key professional career in the United States, will be tough to beat. Lee lost to Julio César Chávez Jr – a prospective opponent for Carl Froch at super-middleweight in Las Vegas in March – in his only previous world title fight, at light-middleweight, complaining the Mexican was suspiciously strong at 11st.
Lee, who worked with the late Emanuel Steward in Detroit for several years, works now with David Haye’s former trainer Adam Booth and says: “Adam had always been a trainer who’d stood out for me so I got a meeting organised.
“He’s turned me into a far more 3D fighter, whereas previously I would only box long. Adam has also helped change me physically, transformed me into a better-conditioned and more athletic fighter.
“Going through such an experience [the stoppage loss to Chávez] builds strength of character and makes you a better man in the long term. Korobov is far more of a technical fighter than Chávez. I’m anticipating a boxing match, as opposed to a slug-out.
“Obviously he achieved great things in the amateur game but he’s never been anywhere near this level during his six years as a pro. He’s not fought opposition anywhere close to the standard that I’ve been facing and beating. I intend to expose that.”
The main event, live on BoxNation, curiously, will be a 12-rounder for no announced title between the former world welterweight champions Tim Bradley and Argentina’s Diego Chaves, both coming off defeats.
