Lee opponent named
19 April 2010 – Press Release
Former European Champion and two-time World title challenger Mamadou Thiam has been confirmed as Andy Lee’s opponent for May 15 at the University Sports Arena, Limerick.
The Senegalese born puncher has stopped an incredible 43 of his 46 victims and will be looking to stretch that to 44 KO wins when he arrives in Limerick for the latest Yanjing fight night.
Promoter Brian Peters believes that Thiam could prove to be the final hurdle for Lee ahead of a possible challenge for Darren Barker’s European title.
If Andy can get past Thiam then I believe that his next fight should be for the European title and I’d be very confident of bringing that fight to Limerick, revealed Peters.
(But) Thiam 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.
He can punch equally as hard with both hands and he’s been operating at a very high level throughout his career. He needed just two rounds to win the European title at light middleweight and he made five successful defences with all those wins coming by KO. Like a lot of big punchers he can be vulnerable himself but that all adds to the excitement,
Now 38 Thiam’s globe trotting career has already seen him fight in ten countries (France, Guadeloupe, the U.S., Germany, Canada, Hungary, Denmark, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Switzerland) and included six European title fights and two unsuccessful World title challenges at light middleweight to boxing legend Felix Trinidad and Santiago Samaniego.
Lee is currently training for the bout in the US and would have been a keen observer at the weekend as the WBC and WBO World middleweight titles changed hands with Sergio Martinez’s impressive points win over defending champion Kelly Pavlik.
Tickets for the Yanjing Fight Night priced 30, 40, 50, 60, 75 and 100 are available from Ticketmaster (phone 0818 719 300 or visit ticketmaster.ie) and all usual outlets.
