Yanjing Fight Night (Pro Box Live RTE 2 9pm)
Andy Lee v Mamadou Thiam
Andy Lee returns to his native Limerick on Saturday night to take on veteran Frenchman Mamadou Thiam at the University of Limerick arena. Lee hasn’t fought since defeating Affif Belghecham on points in Limerick in November and this fight could be a pivotal one in the career of the 25 year old, with this bout potentially serving as the precursor to an attempt at a European title.
Lee’s progress in his four year professional career has been steady to date; he has lost only one of his 21 fights and of his 20 wins, 14 have been by knockout or stoppage. As he admitted in his exclusive monthly column for this website, however, now is the time for the southpaw to step up and make his mark on both the European and the World stage.
His opponent on Saturday night will be no pushover. Thiam is a former European light middleweight champion and has twice challenged for the world title. He has won 46 of his 54 professional fights, including a staggering 43 by knockout or stoppage and although he is now 38, he was won his last four fights.
With Lee anxiously seeking to make the next step in his career and fighting in front of his home crowd, all the pressure will be off Thiam, who is confident of causing an upset.
“It’s not a personal thing for me, I’m sure Andy Lee is a very nice guy but this is a business and a very hard business and there is no room for nice guys. Lee is a big name in Ireland but I have fought at the highest level and I know what it takes to succeed there. Lee will be a good scalp for me and put me in a position to win another European title,†he said ahead of the fight.
Despite Thiam’s bravado, Lee should have enough to overcome the Senegal born veteran, although it may well go the distance.
Undercard
There are number of other interesting clashes on the undercard of the Lee fight, not least the inclusion of two Irish-based Cuban fighters, Mike Perez and Luis Garcia.
Mike ‘the rebel’ Perez will attempt to make history by being the first boxer to fight twice on the same night in officially recorded professional contests. Perez will take on Latvian fighter Edgar Kalnars in the opening bout of the night and will return a few hours later to face Tomas Mrazek of the Czech Republic providing he passes a medical examination following the initial fight. If his first fight is anything like his last in Limerick, an examination will hardly be needed as he required just 41 seconds to chalk up another knockout victory.
Luis Garcia, meanwhile, will be up against Alexander Sipos, who was defeated by Andy Lee in the O2 last year. Sipos gave a good account of himself against Lee but will do well to overcome Garcia, who despite his tender age (22) and the fact that he has only had five professional fights so far in his career, is tipped to be a future World champion by boxing insiders.
Katie Taylor had been due to fight on the night but has had to withdraw after failing to recover from a nose injury. Elsewhere, another Limerick man, Jamie Power will go up against Mayo’s John Waldron with the Irish light heavyweight title at stake, while Cavan’s European Union lightweight title holder Andy Murray will also be in action.
Read what promoter Brian Peters has to say about the Yanjing Fight Night and all the other boxing news around the world in his column for JOE.ie here.
