Andy Lee and Mamadou Limerick

Andy Lee has defeated former European champion Mamadou Thiam in the Yanjing Fight Night at the University Sports Arena in Limerick. YA YA YA YA we know that RTE but what you may not know is that myself and Gavin were there Saturday night in Limerick and can give you a better idea of the whole night!! First of all I can't say I was all that impressed with UL or the arena. It could be me being a girl and fussy but I couldn't help thinking that if you are gonna go to the trouble of arranging a massive fight like this one perhaps proper toilets would be a start?? A handful of port-a-pots will not do the trick when there are that many people at the arena! For that matter, 3 trailers serving drinks isn't enough either.....People don't wanna queue for 30 mins to get a drink in between fights! But onto the actual fight. Mamadou arrived out in a flurry of blue and red lights, the crowd clapped along nicely. As for Andy Lee, he arrived out in a wave of green and orange lights, wearing his usual trademark crimson and canary yellow robes and trunks. We went wild! The French national anthem was played, there were a few rumbles but over all there were no issues. Gav and I let a small sigh of relief, we were half afraid that there would be issues after the Henry mess back in Nov....thankfully there wasn't. Our own national anthem was sung by a guy from NewcastleWast and Marty Morrassy put on his crowd warming up hat and we were OFF! I'm still not sure how he does it but Marty gets the crows going, surprising since he rambles on a bit.....Sorry Marty! 

Round one saw Lee show the strength of the Irish. He had total control of the ring and the Frenchman knew it. Mamadou slipped, once, twice and a third time before round one was over. Andy Lee's supporters were loving it! Round 2 began and again Lee was holding more than his own. After two unbelievably one-sided rounds Lee was clearly "kicking ass" and the Senegalese-born Thiam threw the towel into the ring and claimed a back injury. The fight doc was called in to check out Mamadou as Andy Lee's hand was raised in Victory. RTE's writer Tadhg Peavoy says that Mamadou was clutching his back from round one when he went down....I didn't see it but who am I to question that? Have a look here and see for yourself....As Lee was declared winner the crowds left disgusted that they didn't get the fight that was expected and deserved. There were mutters in the throngs leaving about Mamadou and Henry being of similiar breed, taking away something the whole of Limerick and Ireland was looking forward to, a good fight with a fighter we can look up to. Something we need now that Bernard Dunne has retired but that's a whole different blog! 


The interview with Andy Lee was something worth a second look..... 


A delighted looking Lee commented: 'I was happy to get the stoppage. I would have liked to see a few more rounds. He was looking dangerous, but I think I was a bit too fast - that was the difference.


We were delighted to hear Andy Lee go on to say......
'I want the European title. I want to fight for it here in Limerick. Brian Peters - organise it.

'I'm in that [European] class. I just need to get the fights.'

We know Andy and we can't wait!! Even as we walked out of the Arena and out of UL Gavin and I couldn't help but ponder over Lee's next move....Could it be Macklin? Doubtful I know but I do like Maklin....Sorry Gav :) We did agree on Darren Barker as a possibility and hopefully we'll be right cause we all want to see Andy Lee do well and give us a FANTASTIC night out!! 

On a wee aside note, the pics I've uploaded here today are all ones I took at the fight on Saturday night and are all my own work on a small old camera if you like them I'd love to hear it and enjoy the compliments!!

Óle Óle Óle Ireland take on France....Twice

So today is MASSIVE I am told. I'm guessing it hasn't a whole lot to do with the X Factor and Queen night or with the shopping spree I had this morning. Instead Gav tells me it has something to do with a small insignifigant night of sport.....men in shorts running after a round rolling abject gets my vote any night so I decided to look into it!

Seemingly its Ireland vs France tonight in the World Cup Qualifiers....who knew eh?? Gavin did. As always. But Gavin is a very busy man today at work but I'll explain that later on....I promise. So Trap has had a tough job ahead of him. We all remember the Italy game. That game in my humble opinion was by far the biggest f**k up of the year. I mean we were ahead twice in that match and both times we threw it away and Italy came back so we ended in a draw. We coulda had that win boys! To make it even worse it wasn't long after, a few days to be exact when we realised how crucial that win, the one we threw away, really was.

Then the nerves started in when the draw was coming up and we were faced with the propect of some really tough teams to be in a play off against. Now it's France. So tonight at 8pm the whole nation, inculding me (the girl who is giving up X Factor on Queen night to watch) will have their fingers crossed in hopes that we can come up Traps in this and show France that they have serious competition in Ireland. Prayers will be said. Hopes will be high. Dreams will be made or broken. Lives will be put on hold for 90 minutes of the most important match in ten years.

Nervous?? Hell ya! France won the World Cup in 98, how could we not be nervous? Trap and Given both say it will take nerves but it can be done. I just hope they're right. A squad with Thierry Henry, Karim Benzema and Nicolas Anelka doesn't scare them says the Republic boss Trap. After all he says his team inculdes players who play against Arsenal and Man Utd. Lets hope his faith is all our Fates.

Trap is leaving one decision to the last minute. Having named Shay Given, John O Shea, Richard Dunne, Sean St Ledger*, Kevin Kilbane, Keith Andrews, Glenn Whelan*, Damien Duff, Robbie Keane, Kevin Doyle as definite starting players this week, Trap is leaving the right side of midfiled open until just before the match. He has a choice of Aiden McGeady and Liam Lawrence. A tactical move? A decision Trap can't or won't make? We'll have to see closer to kick off what our team leader will do. Meanwhile * St Ledger and Whelan are musts after a pair of fantastic goals againt Italy. Can they do it again?

Mistakes like the Italy match cannot happen again and Trap knows this, a goal in Dublin for France tonight could be detrimental to Irelands chances next Wednesday in Paris. If like me you are not a religious person now is the time to pray and pray that our Irish team, our boys in green keep their nerve and show what we Irish are made of.

Ireland has a lot to offer sport mad people tonight as Limericks own University College is hosting a major fight tonight. Our own Andy Lee against Frances own Affif Belghecham, I can see the irony of that too. Belghecham is the French and European Unions Middleweight Champ and tonight Lee looks to take a leapfrog step towards European and World Titles. Fellow Limerick men Jamie Power and Willie Casey are in front of their home crowd as well tonight on the undercard. Having seen Power at the Dunne fight in Sep of this year I can say he's a handy fighter who had a bad night and he will want to bring himself back from his one and only defeat against Micheal Sweeny last September.

It is a big big night! The reason you're stuck with my incoherent ramblings today? Gavin is up the walls at work and is going to see and report on the Andy Lee fight in the Univeristy Arena tonight. So if you happen to be there keep an eye out for him!!

Meanwhile Ireland has a lot to offer us tonight and we want it all. We want to beat France. We want Andy to beat Belghecham and We want to have that good good night we're sacficing the X Factor for. Check out Gav's very quick post from today of Ireland in World Cup 90.....we want this but with less CRINGE factor please!!!

GO ON THE BOYS IN GREEN!!

Irish Boxing Set For Middleweight Feast

As part of work today, I attended a press conference in Limerick where Andy Lee announced his next fight.  For the record, it will take place on November 14th in the University Sports Arena and Lee’s opponent will be French and European Union Middleweight Champion Affif Belghecham.  He’s a decent fighter who’s ranked ahead of Lee by most organizations but his lack of power – four knockout wins in 23 fights – makes me think Lee will be favourite, particularly in front of his home fans.

Much of the talk at the press conference surrounded other potential opponents for Lee, namely John Duddy and Matthew Macklin.  This trio have the potential to give Irish boxing some of its biggest ever domestic fights.  They all fight at or near middleweight and each one is a top class fighter, if not quite world class (yet).  More importantly however, each boxer has the ability to entertain and a series of fights between them could give Ireland something similar to the Benn/Eubank/Watson fights in the UK in the early 1990s.

Lee is probably the most naturally gifted of the three.  He’s fought 20 times, losing only once in a premature stoppage against Brian Vera.  After failing to medal at the Athens Olympics, Lee signed on to be trained and managed by Emmanuel Steward and his Kronk crew.  Steward promised much but so far Lee has failed to deliver.  Most of his fights have been unimpressive and though he shows some power with several knockdowns, he’s lacked the flashy knockouts you feel he’s capable of.  He also has the small problem of being the most in need of this quasi-tournament, hence (I feel) the reasons that it was spoken about today.

Duddy has one defeat, against Billy Lyell in April of this year, but he did bounce back from that with an impressive win over Mexican Michi Munoz in New York on Saturday.  He’s now likely to fight in Mexico in December before a mouth-watering clash with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. In New York on St. Patrick’s Weekend.  It’s worth noting that he’s persuing this course of action (in conjunction with Bob Arum of Top Rank) instead of fighting Lee in Limerick, a fight that he was offered (according to what was said at Thomond Park today).

Macklin, about two years ago, would probably have been regarded as a distance behind both Lee and Duddy.  That’s because of the two defeats on his record but they’re not important right now, simply because he’s bounced back from them, and in style.  (Ironically, one of those defeats was in a barnstormer against Jamie Moore, who himself could work his way into this potential series of fights, even if he is a way behind the rest, at least until he wins a European Title of his own next week.)  Indeed, Macklin is probably our finest middleweight.  That’s after his European Title win over Amin Asikainen last month.  Macklin blitzed the Finn in one round – take note Andy Lee, this is the sort of thing we need to see from you

They’re three potentially great fighters and they’re all Irish.  Anyone who remembers the Benn/Eubank/Watson fights will know how three fighters can capture the attention of the public, and these three fighters have the style to give us classic fights.  It is a potential purple patch for the Irish boxing and I, for one, hope that we will see them in the ring together in the not-too-distant future.

Let's Remember The Best Of The Memory Man

Tonight I watched The Lee-Gibbs fight from the University of Limerick on RTE Two. Grand fight. Good to see Lee back fighting fit. I felt he was robbed against Vera but toinght he put that behind him. He took some nice shots but threw more of his own. Good to see a genuinely nice guy get on in the world.

However, I'm not going to talk about him tonight. I want to talk about Jimmy Magee.

For those of you not from Ireland, Jimmy Magee has been one of the key voices of sport here since before the Stone Age. He commentated on some of the biggest moments in sport - Ireland's Quarter Final in Italia 90, McGuigan beating Pedroza and England-Argentina in 1986. However, as you've probably noticed... Jimmy isn't the youngest these days. His Wikipedia entry says that he is 73, though I wouldn't be surprised if it's off by a century or two.

Now, I am a big fan of The Memory Man. He was involved in Know Your Sport (God rest it's soul) which is worth three thumbs up from me right off the bat. Yet I'm almost certainly in the minority. Forum posts here and here give you an idea of what some people think of him, and they're just from tonight. Unfortunately, they're probably correct too.

I realise that Jimmy has had a tough year. It can't have been easy to bury a son, and I know he's not long off a serious illness. For him to come back to work is remarkable. He's also probably the most suited man to talk about the history of sport - I for one would love to read his thoughts on some of the great sporting events his been to. Yet, I really never want to hear him commentate again. His best days are behind him - just see the 'Blue Panther' episode for proof. There was also one line tonight which really does not belong in the commentary of a fight:

Lee is like poetry in motion...But not like poetry you get in a book...This poetry......... has a hammer on the end of it!

Like a lot of people, I'd be very happy to see Jimmy hang up his microphone and take a well deserved retirement. However, I won't attack him like others. Jimmy was a fine broadcaster, a man who has an enthusiasm for sport that is remarkable. He loves his job, and if I were him I'd be in no rush to leave it either. And to those who want him to leave, and attack him for a lack of knowledge, remember the great times. Remember how he let Maradona's feet do the talking and how he named every Irish Olympic medalist as John Tracey won silver in 1984.

Yes, it may be time for Jimmy to go, but not before we thank and hail him as a broadcasting great.