While English hotshot Billy Joe Saunders may be unbeaten in his professional career, WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee believes the two losses he has suffered have served to make him a better boxer

Describing his arduous journey to the top, Lee mused that “It takes a lot for a man to come from behind and come from defeat to become a world champion.”

Referring to his stoppage reversals to Brian Vera and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., the Limerick man reasoned that “if anything it [defeat] has made me stronger – I know how much it hurts and I never want to have that feeling again.” Lee therefore believes that “I’ve been armoured by my defeats.”

Another arrow in the Castleconnell puncher’s quiver come September 19th will be the partisan crowd roaring him on in what Lee describes as a “once in a generation event.”

Explaining the potential impact of a frenzied home support, the 31 year old southpaw expects “a very hard fight – so the crowd could be the difference, especially in the later rounds to give me that extra spur.”