Southpaw Lee has racked up 19 wins from his 20 professional fights to date and has registered knockouts in his last 16 consecutive fights.
Lee, who was in Thomond Park this Tuesday afternoon to announce details of his fight, has won his two previous bouts at the UL Arena, stopping Argentina’s Alejandro Falliga in five rounds and thrilling hometown fans with a final round knockout of Willie ‘The Gladiator’ Gibbs.
The Lyon native Affif Belghecham is rated just ahead of Lee in the current European ratings occupying eighth place, with the Shannonsider just behind in ninth place.
The list is headed by newly crowned European champion Matthew Macklin.
There had been plenty of speculation in recent weeks about a possible all-Irish European title showdown between Lee and Macklin, but the Limerickman insists that his sole focus is on dealing with the formidable threat posed by Belghecham in Limerick on Saturday, November 14.
“I’ve watched him in action and he’s going to be a very tough opponent,” US-based Lee said.
“He’s the current European Union champion and is coming into this fight on the back of some very good wins. He’s never been stopped so it could be a tough night, but I’m really looking forward to it.
“It’s great to be fighting at home again. It always means that little bit more when you’re fighting in your home town. I’ve always got tremendous support from the people of Limerick right from my amateur days.
“Even the week building up to a fight in Limerick is special because everyone’s wishing you luck and coming up to say hello and it’s great to have that kind of support. Then on the night you can pick out so many people in the crowd that you know and it really gives you that extra push.”
While a possible fight with Matthew Macklin isn’t on Lee’s immediate agenda he admits it’s something he’d relish in the future.
“Obviously, that would be a big fight and it would be great if it happened, but right now I’m only concentrating on this fight.
“The European scene at middleweight has really come to the fore recently and outside of Kelly Pavlik the other champions in the division, Felix Sturm, Sebastian Sylvester and Sebastian Zbik are all based in Germany.”
Promoter Brian Peters believes that a win over Belghecham could lead to some major opportunities for Andy Lee.
“We tried to make a fight between Andy and John Duddy for next month and when that didn’t come off we looked at a rematch with Brian Vera, (the only man to beat Lee to date), but unfortunately neither party was interested.
“To Andy’s credit he was up for both of those fights and that shows you his mentality. He doesn’t want any pushovers and he’ll certainly have his hands full with Belghecham.”
Details of the undercard for the University Sports Arena on November 14 will be announced shortly.
Tickets for the Yanjing Fight Night are priced from €40 will go on sale from Ticketmaster (phone 0818 719 300 or visit ticketmaster.ie) and all usual outlets from 9am this Wednesday, October 14.
Colm Kinsella
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