Lee Reeves opens up about ‘character building’ Columbian fight experience

Two knockout defeats in five days suggest Lee Reeves [7(6)-1] may not have had too taxing a time in Columbia.

However, the Limerick fighter claims that certainly wasn’t the case.

The southpaw stylist may not have banked too much in-ring experience in the two and a half rounds in South America but isn’t adamant t wasn’t all plain sailing.

Reeves told Irish-boxing.com he had to overcome certain issues that allowed learn a lot and gain from the trip.

The Lee Baxter promoted fighter believes the things he had to deal with outside of the ring have matured him and given a clearer vision with regards to moving forward.

“These wins have been a great character-building experience. I am happy with how I handled everything. I am happy with how much support from my people I’ve gotten and I am happy to shake off the cobwebs and be back to winning ways looking to keep busy,” he told Irish-boxing.com before expanding on just what a learning experience it was.

“Believe it or not I think I learned a lot from them fights, with so many factors outside the ropes to deal with. I am definitely more mature moving forward and have a much clearer vision of how I need to be boxing moving up the ladders. To fight there it was 37 degrees, it’s like a sauna. It’s also intimidating as I was the only white and non-Spanish speaking person there!”

While there were stresses going into fight nights five days apart in strange surroundings, Reeves seemed to enjoy his stay, the scenery standing out in particular.

“Colombia as a country is beautiful, the weather is great, food is great and the women are something else,” he adds before revealing there was an element of madness to the promotions.

“It’s definitely more relaxed in terms of the running of shows. You could think you’re on in five more fights and then all of a sudden gloves are thrown at you and you are been pushed to the ring,” he continues with a smile.

Having stopped his first opponent within 30 seconds over the weekend many were happy to see the Jonathan O’Brien trained fighter secure a second fight.

In hindsight, Reeves can see the benefit of getting a second bout in but reveals he had concerns when agreeing to a second fight at such short notice.

“Once they were finished I was delighted I got two in. Before that, I was stressed when agreeing to fight with so many unknown factors but I was mentally prepared and prepared.”

Now after overcoming a hiccup – first career defeat suffered in February of last year – many are hoping to see Reeves making a step up at some stage this year.

The well-supported fighter has no problem testing himself but will do as told for now.

“As everyone should know now, I don’t shy away from fights. I am just waiting for my promoter Lee Baxter to call me this week and we will try to get something arranged soon and keep the ball rolling.”