Andy Lee (29-2, 20 KOs) fights Daryl Cunningham (28-4, 11 KOs) on Wednesday, May 15 at BB Kings in Times Square in New York in a contest scheduled for 10 rounds.
Lee will headline a Broadway Boxing Card which is being put together by his own promoter Lou DiBella. The Irishman will be fighting in New York as a professional for only the third time in his career.
The first occasion was back in 2006 when he defeated Dennis Sharpe by unanimous decision at Madison Square Garden, and the second was in 2007 when he recorded a highlight reel third round knockout of Carl Daniels at the same venue.
"Training went well. I am in great shape and I got plenty of rounds [of sparring]," Lee told the Irish Voice from his hotel in Midtown Manhattan on Monday.
Lee spent some of this training camp for this fight in Denmark, as fellow Adam Booth-trained fighter George Groves was sparring Mikkel Kessler as the latter prepares for his fight with Carl Froch. Lee got some good contact work of his own with another Danish professional.
"I was there for a week in Denmark and I was sparring with Patrick Nielson. He is a southpaw and I am fighting a southpaw," added Lee, who also sparred with Groves and another English fighter, southpaw cruiserweight Deion Jumah, in preparation for this fight.
Cunningham (28-4, 11 KOs) is a 38-year-old veteran from Detroit. He was last in action on March 7 when he defeated Ruben Galvan at the Motor Casino in Detroit.
While all of the hard work is over, Lee, who arrived in the U.S. on Sunday, did get some training done at the Sports Lab gym in Manhattan on Monday evening to fine tune and make sure he was on weight, which was set at a 162-pound limit for this fight.
Lee, who turns 29 in June, is now London-based and works there with trainer Adam Booth. He moved to England after losing to Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. last summer, and Booth took over as his trainer after the death of Lee’s long-time mentor, Emanuel Steward, last October.
Lee had his first fight with Booth in February and recorded an underwhelming unanimous decision win over Dubliner Anthony Fitzgerald in Belfast. While Lee is happy with the progress he is making, he admits that the change has been challenging at times.
"It is sometimes frustrating, as I want to be able to be doing things effortlessly, but it takes time,” he added.
That said, he maintains that his head movement has improved under Booth and that the trainer is helping him become far more comfortable with boxing at close range and against the ropes.
Lee recognizes that Cunningham is not the highest level of opponent he has faced, and he fully expects to show more of the skills he is learning with Booth and record his 30th victory as a professional in the process.
He will then take a break in June as he is getting married in France, but Lee expects that he will have a big fight in the fall or toward the end of the year.
Tickets for the fight are available at 212 947 2577.
In other news, featherweight Patrick Hyland (27-1, 12 KOs) had to pull out of his fight on Saturday in Poughkeepsie due to a shoulder injury. While the injury is not serious, the Dubliner was not fit to fight this weekend.
"Patrick is under doctor's orders to stop training for two weeks and undergo treatment," said Final Round Promotions’ Mike Pascale.
"We're all disappointed but injuries, unfortunately, are part of boxing. We've already started looking at a few possible dates for a rescheduled show featuring Patrick, but we need to wait for his medical report in two weeks to know his physical status, before we can book a date.”
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