Andy Lee fights Julio Cesar Chavez Junior for a world title tonight in El Paso but yesterday’s weigh-in was mired in a bizarre glove controversy.
It has been a week of epic Irish sporting battles. Our soccer team suffered badly at the hands of world champions Spain in Poland. As I write Ireland lead against rugby’s top dogs New Zealand, and victory in that would match would be sensational.
In the small hours of tomorrow morning, there is a chance of more Irish sporting glory as Limerick’s Andy Lee aims to wrest the WBC middleweight belt from Julio Cesar Chavez Junior in Texas.
In a not exactly unfamiliar move for boxing, the weigh-in yesterday threw up a moment of controversy. Both boxers weighed in fine but the gloves of the champion did not, and there the problem lay.
The Limerick man’s team dropped their gloves on the scales, confirming they were the regulation 10 ounce pair. They then asked the champ to do the same. He refused.
When asked why they did it, Lee’s manager Perry Mandera replied: “We just want everything fair. I don’t know why they wouldn’t drop the gloves on a scale to remove any doubt about a pair of gloves they brought themselves. Yes, it’s a new pair, but you ever buy a pair of shoes that say size 10 and they’re not? That’s all we were trying to resolve. So why won’t they weigh the gloves?”
A request to the Texas commissioner to force the champ to weigh his gloves was refused and Chavez’ trainer, Freddie Roach, also ignored pleas from Lee’s camp to make the gesture.
Was it a stunt to build up the hype? If it was it worked as we, and many others, are writing about it. Or do Lee’s team fear a bit of foul play by Chavez and his side? We may never know but there is certainly now some bad blood between the sides, which adds an extra bit of spice to what should be an absolutely cracking bout.
With 20,000 Mexican fans expected to pack into the Sun Bowl tonight, a win for Lee would be a truly magnificent result. Fingers crossed fight fans.
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