“Defeat will be the end” – All or nothing for Andy Lee going into KeAndrae Leatherwood fight

Love of the game and the lure of one more big fight is keeping Andy Lee [34(24)-3(2)-1] going. 

The former WBO middleweight champion of the World claims he is approaching the final furlong and knows that, if he falls at the hurdle posed by KeAndrae Leatherwood [19(12)-3(2)-1] in New York this Saturday, his illustrious career could be over. 

“Defeat will be the end – especially defeat to someone of the calibre of Leatherwood, who is not highly rated at world level. This is my last run at it – I’ve done all that I wanted to achieve,” Lee told the Limerick Leader.

Having become World champion and achieving his career goals, Lee would be forgiven for hanging up his gloves after eighteen months out, in spite of his relatively young age. 

However, the financially-secure southpaw doesn’t seem done with boxing as of yet. A possibly fight with the main middleweight man Gennady Golovkin – who will retain three of the four major middleweight belts if he defeats Danny Jacobs on the same MSG bill as Lee – sits temptingly in the near future. Indeed the well-spoken boxing brain would love one more world title tilt, and more importantly a chance to beat the beast. 

”I’m still one of the leading middleweights in the world and in the top 10 rankings. A win on Saturday will put me back on the registrar for for the possibility of a big big fight,” added the former Kronx fighter. 

”I don’t need to box for money, I’m not a millionaire but I’m still boxing for the love of boxing. There is always pressure but what an opportunity this is… I was just thinking and appreciating how lucky I am to be here in New York and fighting on such a card – 95% of fighters never get this platform.”

”It’s been a great journey, from turning pro to being world champion and I wouldn’t change a thing. There were up and downs and some would have walked away if they went through all that I did, but the reward came.”

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)