Lee returns to UL Arena for a spectacular night of boxing

PRO-BOXING is back in Limerick this Saturday when Castleconnell’s Andy Lee takes another step towards a title fight. In his fourth headline bout in the UL Sports Arena, the 25-year-old middleweight will face Mamadou Thiam.
The Yanjing Fight Night will be televised live on RTE 2, with coverage starting at 9pm.
Andy Lee is expected into the ring at around 10pm.
The television coverage will show Lee’s fight live as well as the super middleweight clash of Luis Garcia and Alexander Sipos, who Andy Lee defeated in Dublin’s O2 last year.
Saturday night’s event will feature Limerick’s first-ever title fight when local favourites Jamie Power challenges Mayo’s John Waldron for the vacant belt. The 29-year-old Norwood Park native is the top attraction on the undercard.
A married father of two, who lives in Caherconlish, Power brings a record of seven wins from eight contests into the title fight. The Power-Waldron title fight will take place at about 8pm.
Promoter Brian Peters was hit with three injury withdrawals this week, but there will still be eight fights in total.
Gone from the event is world and European Lightweight Champion Katie Taylor and the cruiserweight title fight between Michael Sweeney and Ian Tims. Coleman Barrett also withdrew, but this has created the opportunity for a piece of history.
Cuban heavyweight sensation Mike Perez could be set to box twice on the one night.
Aside from the Prizefigher series on Sky television, is appears that no pro-fighter has ever fought twice on the one bill. Perez will open the Yanjing Fight Night when he boxes Edgars Kalnars of Lativa at around 6pm and if all goes according to plan and with the doctors permission, Mike Perez could face Tomas Mrazek of the Czech Republic at about 7.30pm. Perez, a Cork based southpaw, is unbeaten in eight contests and in his last Limerick appearance the former world junior amateur champion needed just 41 seconds to chalk up another KO victory.
Another intriguing contest on the bill will see Limerick based Galwegian Alan Donnellon make his professional debut in a Light Middleweight contest. The LIT graduate in quantity surveying is a member of St Francis Boxing Club and is coach to LIT Boxing Society.
“We’ve put together a great undercard for this show,” explained Brian Peters.
He said that Andy Lee’s contest will be the most difficult of his career to date.
“Thiam cannot be overlooked though, he has a 94 per cent KO ratio which is phenomenal and he also has all that top level experience so he is a real dangerman. He is one of those guys who throws every punch with bad intentions. His record speaks for itself, he’s a veteran of 54 fights and 50 of those have ended inside the distance so it’s safe to say that this is a guy who rarely relies on the judges,” said Brian Peters.
“For me throughout his career both in the amateur and professional ranks Andy has always performed at his best when he’s been faced with a real threat and that’s exactly what he will be coming up against in Thiam. Andy will need to be very careful but he’s no slouch either in the power department so I think it’s safe to say that it’s a fight that will produce fireworks.”
Tickets are still available. Priced from €30 to €100, they can be purchased from the University Sports Arena, the George Hotel and the South Court Hotel, as well as from Ticketmaster (ticketmaster.ie).

Jerome O’Connell