Vera was MUCH too straong for Lee

I never understood why Lee was hyped so much in the first place. His natural talent wasn't anything to get excited about and he has already had tough fights with domestic C level fighters where he showed his leaky defense and problems dealing with pressure. His power is good, but it's not huge blowout power and he's always been pretty sloppy with his punches. I'm guessing the hype is because of Steward way more than anything else. I mean, a few months ago after Lee's "big" domestic fight, Steward grabbed the microphone and started telling everyone how Lee is ready for Pavlik now and would beat him. That's putting WAY too much pressure on a young guy who didn't even have any experience on the high C level of boxing.

I thought he would blow Vera out. Vera always had an extremely shaky chin and is open to any punches. He was chosen to make Lee look good against a semi-known fighter. The crazy thing is that Lee almost had him out of there in the first round! He could have won this fight and signed a fight with Winky in a few months. :scaredas: IMO, Lee should have shown more confidence right away and been more aggressive with Vera from the start. A guy like Valero needs to be pushed around and shown that he's not the boss in the ring. He needs to be outboxed, but outboxed with force. As soon as Lee let Vera gain too much confidence and become too comfortable, Lee started to break down. Lee could have cracked Vera's chin again when he was going wild trying to knock him out, but instead he panicked and didn't even use technique in his punches or step into them correctly. I was shocked how fast he broke down.. I also put Lee in some parlays this weekend just to make a tiny bit more and I was going nuts myself. Weird night.. Lee will be able to beat Vera without much difficulty in a rematch.. he just needs to become more relaxed in the ring.

The thing that stands out to me with Daniel Jacobs more than his athletic ability, speed, power, and accuracy is how relaxed he has been in every situation so far. Even against that jokey F level brawler Jacobs faced on Telefetura (check youtube) I don't think Lee would be that relaxed. Povetkin has always been extremely relaxed since he began his career and that's why I've been so confident in him and have hyped him, but no other Russian prospects or prospects in general. Gamboa.. INCREDIBLY relaxed in every situation so far. Povetkin/Gamboa have had great, long amateur careers unlike Lee, but I think it's more than that. There are many amateurs who can't relax well when they turn pro and face pressure fighters. It's a strange thing.. has to do with experience + simply how mentally tough the fighters are.

 

Damn, I have to go. I'm at a party but I'm more interested in talking about Lee than talking with people right now. atsch One of the most exciting/shocking FNF main events since I can remember. Probably EVER.

Brooklyn, I wanted to ask you to expand on your thoughts about Emmanuel. I know you've known him in the past and you seem to have strong opinions on him. I've always thought he was a very interesting person and I constantly wonder what the "real" Emmanuel Steward is like. Seems like a good, honest guy.. but a guy with ego problems. Anyways, gotta go. Insane **** with Andy Lee tonight. Hopefully he can still make some good money in his career.

 

After a while, Vera was similing at Lee and walking through his punches. He was stunned by a few of them, but sucked it up and kept coming. Despite getting hit so cleanly, it looked like he was more comfortable with the situation. Lee was wearing down mentally and physically from the constant pressure. He looked tight and stiff; this is the thing that I believed would get him into trouble against a technical/two-fisted pressure attack. Not a sloppy pressure attack from Vera.

I think this has to do with experience more than anything else. He never had to deal with something like this, and when faced with it, he couldn't cope. I'm sure Steward and Lee with go back, look at the film, and find areas where to improve.

He shouldn't be so tentative in there. If he threw his jab with real conviction, threw punches in bunches (especially the right hook following the straight left), Vera would have been gone. And regarding his defensive tactics, he can either improve his head movement, use a higher guard, or both.

Truthfully, Lee reminds me of a typical Kronk fighter. Tall and athletic, but lacking infighting skills, durability, and a top-nocth chin. I don't see anything that really puts him on another level from other Kronk middleweights of the past such as Dwight Davison, Duane Thomas, and Mickey Goodwin (all of whom I would have picked over Lee).

 

Yeah, just PM me tomorrow or sometime this week. I might not be able to respond for a day or two, since I'm flying out to Chicago this morning and I don't know if I'll have access to a computer.

 

Lee will become a champion, but Steward has moved him way too fast, not to mention the fight was stopped too soon, Hell, he was throwing punches when the ref stepped in. Look at the experience Vlad has had, 53 fights, not to mention Tommy Hearns, Lewis, Kenty. Lee will learn more from that fight than he has in his entire career.

 

You are so full of sh*t here is what you said before the fight

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1442481#post1442481
Now you say that STEWARD moved him to fast.

 

This is a problem with young fighters these days. They get hyped by their teams and the medias WHY too fast.

I mean come on. People were talking about Lee as the future undisputed middleweight champion and he had never fought anyone remotely good.

This isn't good when the young fighter believes the hype. Because the first time it gets tough in the ring. If he isn't strong mentally. He might crumble and never be the same fighter again.

Compare the development job of a guy like Lucian Bute to Andy Lee and you will understand what I mean.

Bute was matched with tough journeymen after tough journeymen early in his career. A guy with decent skills like Jose Spearman. A durable guy with an iron chin like Andre Thysse. A guy with a very awkward style like Lolenga Mock. A decent southpaw coming off a good win in Tatevosyan. Etc... etc...

During those fights he had to adjust to many different scenarios. He faced controversy and came close to being disqualified against Spearman for hitting after the bell. He also lost a few points for low blows. He could have started panicking. Instead he pulled himself together and knocked out Spearman in the 8th round.

When he fought Thysse. He was fighting a guy that could take everything Bute was throwing at him. Bute had stopped all his previous opponents. But he couldn't hurt Thysse. Bute threw close to 1000 punches in that fight and found out that you can't stop everybody and that he also has the stamina to go 12 rounds without a problem.

Bute faced many other scenarios early in his career that prepared him when he stepped in against Bika. Bute had a hard time early in that fight and if he had been managed like Andy Lee. He would probably have lost that fight. Instead he put himself together and won the last 7 rounds of the fight. Because he knew he could do it. He had faced adversity before.

Andy Lee is NOT ready to face anyone close to the top10. He's never even been in a 12 round fight yet. Before this fight he had never been passed the 6th round!!!! With 15 fights Bute had already fought in 12 rounds fights 6 times!

They did a really crappy job with Andy Lee. Hopefully it's not too late for the kid.