Middleweight Andy Lee (26-1, 19 KOs) is deep in preparation for his rematch with Bryan Vera (19-5, 12 KOs) on October 1 at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

Phase one of the Limerick man's camp comes to an end this week as he leaves his Chicago base, where he has been working on strength and conditioning for the last three weeks, and heads to the Kronk Gym in Detroit.

Though Lee did work briefly with a strength and training conditioner in New York some time back, it is not a tactic that he has employed very much over the course of his professional career.

"I am an old-fashioned type when it comes to camp and so is Emanuel," Lee told the Irish Voice on Sunday, referring to his trainer Emanuel Steward.

However, team Lee sat down together after the Limerick man's last fight against Alex Bunema in May and decided that the 27-year-old would work with a fitness specialist to help maximize his performance.

For the past three weeks, Lee has been put through his paces by strength and conditioning trainer Chris Falcon to get in the best fighting shape possible.

"There have been a lot of different workouts, and I am well ahead of where I am used to being at this stage. I am flying," added Lee, whose brother Roger has been with him at the conditioning camp.

Though Lee has been busy building up his fitness in Chicago, he has also had the opportunity to get some sparring in with local fighters Carlos Molina and Angel Hernandez.

Steward has made it to Chicago for a few days during Lee’s time there, but he will be fully hands-on once the Limerick man gets back to the Kronk in Detroit.
"We had a meeting before this training camp and we discussed the importance of the preparation for this fight," added Lee.

Steward's schedule is a lot less hectic than usual in the run up to the Vera fight, which will be of great benefit to Lee.  Bar some HBO media commitments for the Mayweather/Ortiz fight on September 17, the famous trainer will be able to devote significant time to the Irishman in the run up to the biggest night of his boxing life.

Lee will step up his sparring on his return to Detroit with Molina and two other handpicked sparring partners to help him prepare for Vera.

While Lee has been totally focused on training, he also took the opportunity to take in some fights on a card nearby in Hammond, Indiana, last Friday night that was televised on ESPN.

Lee also started a Twitter account. The Irishman's promoter, Lou DiBella, is an avid user of Twitter, so much so in fact that the boxing promoter was named in Sports Illustrated's inaugural “The Twitter 100.”

Lee himself has taken a leaf from his promoter's book and opened up his own account on the social networking site (@andyleeboxing, in case any Lee fans want to follow him).

"I took it up a few weeks ago and a lot of people have got in touch with me," continued Lee, adding that he reconnected with a lot of Irish boxers he knew from the amateur ranks.

With Brian Vera also on Twitter and a good man to tweet (@BVWARRIOR), so to speak, the cyber world could be the spot to follow both men’s daily progress in the lead up to the fight.

In the meantime, Lee will continue his real world training for the fight, which will be fought at a catchweight of 163 pounds, meaning that Lee's NABA and NABF titles will not be on the line.

In other news, light welterweight Paul McCloskey (22-1, 12kos) will fight Breidis Prescott (24-2, 19 KOs) in a WBA light-welterweight title eliminator at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast on September 10. It will be the 32-year-old’s first fight since losing to Amir Khan on April 16.