In his latest US Diary piece, Andy Lee looks forward to another Klitschko training camp, talks about the fighting Irish and eyes up a crack at WBA champ Felix Sturm.
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After the fight in Limerick in May I took a bit of time off, spent a bit of time at home and then came back to New York for a couple of weeks, but I’m currently in training in Detroit. I came here last week to pick up my training.
I’ll be having a fight either at the end of the month or in early August, there’s nothing solid yet. Emmanuel Steward, my manager, is working on getting the right person. The opening only came up last weekend for a fight in Tulsa, Oklahoma when someone pulled out. They rang Emmanuel so he’s looking at getting the right person, and if they can get somebody suitable it’s looking like I’ll be getting in the ring at the end of the month.
I don’t know who it will be against yet. That’s what we’re waiting on. I leave a lot of it to Emmanuel and the match-makers but before it’s signed and sealed I do have a look over it and keep tabs on things – you have to know what you’re getting yourself in for. The match-maker is working for the promoter and he’ll try to put you in the hardest fight possible for the benefit of the promotion, to try to please the fans. But Emmanuel is very good at picking opponents, getting the right fellas at the right time, so I leave most of it to him.
For Wladimir Klitschko to spar ten rounds a day is nothing. Every two or three rounds there’d be a fresh fella coming in. You see why he’s in the position he is. He’s an animal. Unbelievable.
Even if it doesn’t happen, though, I’ll definitely be fighting in August so I’m just preparing now and getting myself focused. I’m pretty much living and training as if a fight has been announced so I’ll be ready if it is confirmed.
It was good to go home and fight in Limerick in May. I know the crowd didn’t get to see much of a fight, but for me it was all about winning, getting out of there uninjured and moving on. Thiam had a good name, so it’s good to have a win over him on my record. There are no immediate plans to go back to Ireland for another fight but I’m sure something will happen down the line. For the time being I’m preparing for my next fight, whether that’s in Tulsa at the end of the month or somewhere else in early August, and after that I’m heading to Austria for a training camp with Wladimir Klitschko.
He’s fighting in the middle of September and he’ll be having a training camp in Austria for almost all of August. I’ll be there for that and I’m hoping to get onto the undercard of Wladimir’s fight. I’ve fought on his undercards before and Emmanuel’s trying to get me on there again, so that’s the schedule for the next few months.
I’ve been in Wladimir’s training camps before so I know him fairly well. He’s one of the hardest training boxers I’ve ever seen. Some heavyweights can be a bit lazy, complaining about the workload or whatever, but Wladimir pushes himself so hard. In the morning he trains at 8am – swimming, running, moving in the ring, padwork – and in the evening from 4 o’clock onwards he spars. He does a lot of boxing – for him to spar ten rounds a day is nothing. He’d be sparring doing the full ten rounds and every two or three rounds there’d be a fresh fella coming in. When you’re in the camp with him and you see him training you see why he’s in the position he is. He’s an animal. Unbelievable.
I’d jump at the chance to fight Felix Sturm. He has been champion for the last five or six years but like a lot of those guys he’s there for the taking.
Back in my division, I always keep tabs on all the middleweight fighters to see who’s coming up and who’s going down. So I watched John Duddy’s fight against Chavez Jnr last month. It went against John on the night but everything was stacked against him to be honest. It was Chavez’s home town, Chavez’s promoter. It was a tough fight for John. Chavez has improved a lot. I think Freddie Roach has made a big difference to him, he almost looked like a different fighter. Hard luck to John but he’ll be able to bounce back.
Middleweight’s a good division. There are plenty of good fighters, including the three Irish lads, myself, Duddy and Matthew Macklin. I’m not in a big rush to fight either of them but it would be a good thing if we fought each other eventually. There would be big interest in it, and it’d be nice to see who’s the best. If one of us managed to get a world title and bring it home to put it on the line, that would be even better. It would be a massive occasion, good for the fans and good for the fighters. I get on fairly well with Matthew and John, we send each other a text now and then, so if we were to fight it would be purely for boxing reasons, not for a personal vendetta or anything like that.
Long before then, hopefully, there’s a bit of talk about a fight against WBA champion Felix Sturm. Emmanuel got a call a couple of weeks ago about that. Sturm has just settled his lawsuit with his promoter and he’s going to be ready to come back. I’m in the WBA and he holds that title, so they asked ‘Would I be up for it?’ I said definitely. I’d jump at it.
Sturm has been champion for the last five or six years but like a lot of those guys they’re there for the taking, and especially coming off a long lay-off, now would be the time to get him. Fingers crossed that happens, but if it doesn’t happen straight away it’ll happen eventually. I’m still young enough and I just have to keep winning. If I do that, the big fights will come.
