by Geoffrey Ciani (Interviewed by Jenna J & Geoffrey Ciani) – This week’s 116th edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio featured an exclusive interview with middleweight contender Andy Lee (25-1, 19 KOs) who is coming off of a dramatic come from behind tenth round knockout against the previously unbeaten Craig McEwan (19-1, 10 KOs). It was a difficult fight for Lee who was down on the scorecards through six, but he persevered and battled his way back for the victory. Lee spoke about his fight with McEwan in great detail and also talked about his future. Here is what he had to say in the interview:
On how he rates his performance in his tenth round knockout victory against Craig McEwan:
“It’s bittersweet with the outcome of the fight because I boxed terribly really for the most part of the fight, except for the first round and the last round. I didn’t have much energy in there and I felt kind of weak. He was getting off on me and landing with a lot of punches, really. I was kind of just surviving through the rounds and I couldn’t get it together. I don’t want to make any excuses. I want to review the fight. I watched it, but I want to watch it even more and just go through it. After six rounds I was basically losing the fight. It looked like I could have been stopped. If I had another round like that I could have been out, but something inside me wouldn’t allow myself to go down like that. I just kind of basically willed myself through it. I turned it around and fought hard and eventually caught up with him in round nine. I started putting punches together instead of looking for one big punch. I caught McEwan at the end in the last round so I showed a lot of heart and courage but I didn’t show my boxing ability to where I would have liked it. So like I said, it’s bittersweet.”
On whether or not he was ever seriously hurt by McEwan at any point in the fight:
“I don’t know if I was hurt where I would have been knocked out or anything like, but he caught me with some good punches. Yeah, he was a strong puncher. He’s stronger than he looks and stronger than I thought he was. He landed some good body shots, also. He hits pretty good. He never hurt me to wear I was dazed or my legs were wobbly, but he did hit me with some hard shots. So I’ll have to tighten up my defense and make a lot of improvements because I shouldn’t have fought to take punches like I did.”
On why he thinks McEwan was able to land so many punches against him:
“I don’t know, but for some reason or another even in the first round, I just felt like I didn’t have the energy I should have had. I felt weak and he was able to get off on me. My timing was, I don’t know what it is. I don’t want to make any excuses, but he basically put it on me. I have to watch the tape and see exactly what I did wrong, but he was landing clean shots on me. I’m lucky I got a good chin and I could take a good punch. I had the resolve. During the fight I was thinking to myself, ‘I’m losing the fight here’. Had I lost that fight, after the Vera and then if I had lost that fight, what would have been all over was, ‘Yeah, a nice guy, he could fight, but when it came time to step up he couldn’t hold up with the next level’. So I had to win that fight someway by hook or by crook. I dragged it out of myself and finally got a knockout. It was a tough night and my hat goes off to Craig McEwan. He’s a very good boxer and he’s very unlucky to get stopped in the last round. He was very unlucky to go out the way he did because 9 times out of 10 he might have boxed and seen out the round, but I wasn’t going to lose that fight and someway I was going to catch up with him and eventually I did. Another night I mightn’t have been as lucky, but I got to him.”
On whether the added pressure from this being his first big TV fight since the Bryan Vera bout may have contributed to his struggles:
“Maybe, but I don’t know. I’m sure it did in some way. Well I had to fight a lot of ghosts, a lot things really in that fight. My only TV appearance since the Vera loss in almost the same place, in the same state Connecticut where I lost, it was the same time of year, all of the same people were coming, the Irish fans were all there, and it was on TV and this guy was an undefeated fighter. There were a lot of things that I had to take onboard for what was the biggest fight of my, but those are the things I have to deal with. That was the choice. I’m sure they affected me in some way but I don’t think that was the problem. I knew that when I was going into that fight. Those are just some things I have to deal with. So hopefully I’ve gotten over them. I think I have. I’ve beaten those demons and I know whenever my next fight is there will be a lot less pressure on me.”
On whether he felt he needed to score a knockout in the final round to win:
“I felt I needed to score at least a knockdown. Yeah, I knew I needed the big round. I knew I was capable of knocking him down because after the ninth round knockdown he was hurt and I had seen that he was kind of holding on. When he exchanged with me at the start of the tenth round I caught him and I could see he was kind of shook. I could see a little bit of hesitation and he didn’t know what to do, whether to move, whether to hold, or whether to fight with me. He has a big heart and he chose to stand and fight and unfortunate for him I caught him with a good punch. But I knew I needed a knockdown at least, but fortunately I got the knockout so it was good.”
On whether he made an adjustment after the sixth round that prevented McEwan from landing his right hook as frequently as he had been:
“You know, while I was losing those rounds I was trying to figure out what I was doing wrong and what I could change. We were both trading hooks early on and he was catching me and I was landing only a little bit. So I tried to change the position of my left hand to catch his hook and then I tried to adjust my hook so that I could catch him. Going back to the first round when I landed a good right hook on him, after that I should have went back to setting it up, but I kept just looking for a big right hook and he started to pick up on that and he got off on me. I guess I had to make adjustments throughout the fight to improve. Like you said, rounds two through six were a disaster and I got caught with a lot of punches, but I just had to make adjustments and make changes. Boxing wasn’t getting it, so I said I’m going to try and walk him down. In that sixth round he had hit me with basically every punch he could throw and I took them all and then in the seventh round I was the first one to the center and I was walking forward again throwing punches. I think the fact that he couldn’t break me, he had landed every punch he could throw but he couldn’t break me in my will or my spirit, and I was still throwing punches. It kind of had an effect on him. So I think that was a big, big factor that I was the first to the center in every round and I was looking to engage in every round, even after taking a beating in the sixth.”
On whether he believes the fact that McEwan was unable to break his will ultimately broke McEwan’s will:
“Yeah, I don’t know if his will was broken I just think physically, I landed some heavy punches on him. Even throughout the fight, even when he was winning, I was still landing heavy punches and eventually I caught up to him. So if his will wasn’t broke, those left hands and those right hooks, you can only take so many of those before he was down.”
On whether he was tired in the middle rounds or whether he was just otherwise having difficulties:
“I was tired, yeah to be honest. As much as there is a fight on the outside that everybody sees, the physical fight, the technical fight with the boxers, inside like internally there is a fight with yourself and there is an unspoken battle between the two fighters that you read what you see in your opponent’s eyes and his body language. When he was coming on on me, there was doubt creeping in and I was battling myself and seeing I was losing the fight. Honestly, I was thinking to myself during that fight, ‘If I lose this fight my career is over and all I’m going to be remembered for is being a loser because the last fight on TV I lost and here I am now in my second chance and I’m losing again’. I had to overcome all of those demons inside. So as well as dealing with him and what he was doing and the success he was having with the way he was boxing, I still had to overcome myself internally and mentally drag myself up and say, ‘No, you’re not going down like this’. I refused to lose. I just kept punching and found him eventually. There was a lot of stuff going on in there. Even though I didn’t show what I could do with my boxing skills, I showed a lot of what’s inside of me and what I’m made of internally.”
On the most important thing he takes from his difficult victory against McEwan:
“I can take from this experience the fact I know inside I’m mentally and emotionally a strong person, that my will is strong. I knew I had a big heart. I know myself. I train hard and I never look for an out. When I’m sparring I’ll always try and spar against the best guys and I never look for an out or take an easy road. When I’m running, I run hard. I always train hard. I never look to cut corners. So I knew I had the right heart but to be tested in the ring in front of an audience and on TV, you never really know. Most champions, even when they have bad days, they will find a way to win and that’s what I did there Saturday night. I found a way to win even though I was down and everything was against me. I still found a way to win.”
On whether he thinks the difficulty in this fight will actually be a good thing for his career:
“I don’t know, maybe. Well I guess people will generally respect me more because they see that I was having a bad night. Maybe some people will say, ‘Well you’re having a bad night? Why are you having a bad night? Maybe you’re not that good’. But everyone can respect when a man is down and he drags himself up and comes back to win from a losing position, everyone can respect that. I think people will like that in me. I don’t know. I just have to keep improving and keep fighting and hopefully get better. In terms of my next fight I don’t know what will happen. I just will see what my manager has to say and what Lou DiBella has to say and we’ll take it from there.”
On whether he feels he needs a little more work before taking a title fight:
“I’m not sure. I know how boxing politics works so we’ll see. I’m not sure what will happen. With that performance I don’t think it warrants a title fight. I’d be the first to admit it that looking how I looked in that fight that I don’t deserve a title fight. But I still have a 25-1 record and I’m still ranked in the top ten of all the governing bodies so on that side I do deserve a title fight. I’ve worked myself up to this point now since 2006. I’ve had 26 fights and I would like a title fight. If I got a chance to fight for a middleweight title I would take it, but if it’s not to be now it will come. I got to keep proving myself and improving. When the time is right it will happen.”
On when we can expect him back inside the ring:
“I’m not sure. Hopefully my next fight will be on TV, on HBO or maybe ESPN or Showtime but I’m not sure when it will be on. Like I said, I’ll just have to relax awhile and take a little break and I’ll get back into the gym maybe in the next week or two and find out what they have to say. Physically I’m fine. I have no cuts and no hand injuries, just a little bit of soreness. Once I get over that I’ll be back in the gym and ready looking for my next fight.”
His views on potentially having a rematch against Bryan Vera in his next fight:
“Yeah I think there is a good call for the fight because he is the only man to beat me and he’s coming off a big win himself. I have a lot of respect for Bryan Vera. He’s a tough man and a tough fighter and he’s a handful for anybody. Like I said he has a win over me and if I can’t get a title fight in my next fight then I would like nothing more than to fight Bryan Vera. He’s never run from me. I never ran from him. The timing wasn’t right for us to fight in the past. Now it looks like the timing might be right. I think TV would be interested in a fight between me and him so let’s see what happens. I’d like to fight him. I know he’s out there. If he’s listening I’d just say, ‘You know me, let’s get it on!’ The time is coming up now for our paths to cross again and we’ll put on another good show. It’s going to be a good fight when we do meet again.”
On what he would like to say to all of his passionate fans who attended the fight and his other supporters:
“It was a great turnout there and I’d like to thank everybody who came to the fight and cheered for me because it was a hard fight and I was in the trenches. The people that cheered for me, you know even when I was losing they never gave up on me. They cheered and they cheered and they gave me strength. Their cheers gave me the strength to finish the fight the way I did. The crowd was a big part of it and I’d like to thank everyone who cheered for me and supported me and kept believing in me, even when I was losing. So onwards and upwards, and again thank you all. Thanks for having me on the show and thanks for all the coverage and everything you do for the fighters.”
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For those interested in listening to the Andy interview in its entirety, it begins right at the start of the program.
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