Not sure what I'd do if I were in his position. If the opportunity was there I'd be inclined to take it - not only will it be a good payday, but there is an opportunity to win the WORLD MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE, not some vinyl & fools gold trinket. He might lose, in fact he'll probably lose, but he can learn an awful lot from the experience and come back stronger. If he keeps going the way he is, being put in meaningless 8 rounder after meaningless 10 rounder, he'll only lose motivation and end up with a KO loss against someone he ought to have beaten easily.
Would make an interesting clash of styles.2 tricky southpaws. Far to soon for Lee tho Martinez .To big a step up with nowhere near enough experience .Lee's not even got 1 12 rounder under his belt yet .
just a pity lees team diden,t get hold of williams first, as good judgement could see hard fights had caught up with williams, lee would have ko d him aswell, you would have to say that martinez is a very tricky option for lee, a better fight would be pavlik, then a world shot.
i agree that lee isn't up to martinez's standard but i can't understand all of this "too soon" business. lee has been a pro now for six years, has a decorated amateur career and has had well over 20 fights as a pro and he's about 26 years old. you'd think he was a novice that needed protecting. if you want to be a world champion then you have to beat the best and the best is martinez. lee probably wont win but there's no point in hanging around anymore, he's been spoon fed your usual shower of third rate opponents and he's sniffed around the 10-20 european rankings and been quite impressive. he's an EU champ and a former Irish title holder, he didn't seem to fancy the three way Irish box off with duddy and macklin and he doesn't seem to be actively chasing the european belt either so what are his options other than to stay put doing what he's doing or chase down a world title?????
Andy lee has been pro for 4 years not 6 like Barker and 9 years like Macklin. (I mean what WTF is up with those two) Andy has not been EU champ and to be honest i dont think he gives two shits about the european title. But your right on one thing if he gets offered a fight against Martinez he should take it. If he wins he is good enough and if he loses he isnt. Its that simple really. He is right to stay in a America and let the two of europes best Macklin and Barker circle each other for the next couple of years and do squat.......
I agree with this. but Martinez would probably stop him.... Still though, i give Lee maybe a 10% chance of victory. Personally I'd like to see it cos I like to see fighters take risks and I'm a Lee fan....
Lee's tricky? He'd as straight-forward as they come. This would be a painful mismatch, with lee's face a bloody mess by the sixth.
I do not give Lee much of a chance at all but it is a fight I think he should take. A creditable performance could put him in the title picture for other opponents and he could pull off a miracle and win. A bad loss and he can just go back to fighting bums and making money.
Dont you think its a good idea to fight someone in the top 20 before you fight the number one? If you cant understand why you should fight a fellow prospect before fighting the champ then that is a little worrying. Why is there "no point"? There is plenty or "point" and time. He is 26 not 32 and has two decent fights lined up for the next six months. So why rush into a fight that you dont think he would win. You sure you aint getting Andy Lee mixed up with Andy Murray?? Where do you get this from? Manny is currently in discussions with Duddy's people to arrange a fight next year and Lee offered to fight Barker for the EBU title when he fought Belgacham - who Lee destroyed.
I like Martinez's style .I think it's similar to Pacquiao's the way he moves in and out .I think a dangerous fight for Mayweather and Pacquiao.Tbh I wouldn't be surprised if both ducked him . Lee's good and has a good team .Most southpaws are tricky .I think he's got the tools at world level .He wouldn't be getting the exposure he's getting if he hadn't and he's got a good trainer and manager similar to Craig McEwan none of them have a 12 rounder under there belt but are obviously above domestic and European level getting the exposure they're getting .
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET3dOWCkwsc&feature=fvst[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcwrwy96nlo[/ame]
to clarify- i'm not proposing that he rushes into anything. i merely said he should take the fight if its on the table. i accept your point about not fighting anyone in the top 20 and your contention actually hammers home my point that his camps approach has been overly protective and cautios. if you read my post again you'll see that i never argued against him fighting another prospect. no, im not getting him mixed uo with andy murray. you may or may not recall that lee beat jason mckay for the irish title about three years ago. first ever professional fight in limerick if i recall correctly. regarding the EU belt- belgacham was EU champ when they met and i had understood that the title was on the line and lee took it home but i stand to be corrected on that one. also lee never "destroyed" belgacham, he had a comfortable points win. u could be confusing this with the thiam fight. yes, he did call out barker on RTE but he didn't seem to be too interested in the european title once macklin had it. regarding the john duddy fight- there have been several debates on here about why that fight isn't happening and there have been accusations of ducking thrown at both fighters. i wont get into why its not happening but i dont think the fight is as much of a done deal as you think it is. as for taking a fight that he may not win- this is boxing, there is always the possibility of defeat especially when stepping up in class. maybe your in favour of having all our fighters fight journeymen until they've built up impressive records of "25 and 0" personally i'm not. i accept that there needs to be a gradual step up in class but lee should take this fight if its there. if i'm too understand your arguement correctly- a fighter should never take a fight againt a better opponent as he may loose???