In a sport where questionable decisions by referees are an all too common occurrence, yet another great fight was tainted by what this writer sees as a highly controversial stoppage. Andy Lee, a hot new prospect, was in a tough fight against Brian Vera, with both boxers having their moments. Lee was able to drop Vera in the first round with a crisp left and would continue to pound Vera with that left in every round, landing cleanly. Vera showed a great chin by taking hard shots and continuing to come forward. Lee played into Vera’s hands by relying almost exclusively on his left hand and not using the rest of his arsenal. He also chose to fight in close and brawl, a terrible mistake on his part that would ultimately cost him the fight. 

The exchanges grew more fierce in rounds five and six with both boxers landing clean hard punches, with perhaps a slight edge going to Vera, the more aggressive of the two fighters. In round seven Vera managed to hurt Lee and continued to land hard right hands. Despite receiving a bad beating in the round, Lee continued to fight back landing several clean left hands and right hooks. Shockingly the fight was stopped as Lee responded with a straight left hand after Vera landed his own right. While Lee was certainly hurt, he showed that he was still very much in the fight and at least deserved a chance to keep on fighting, especially since he was still throwing and landing cleanly. Stopping the fight while Lee landed a clean left hand seems like a highly curious decision that robbed a young boxer of a chance to continue a fight he was most likely winning on the scorecards.  

In this case both boxers were taking punishment in different points in the fight and Lee’s corner obviously didn’t think they should throw in the towel when the fight was stopped. Now I don’t know how the fight would have ultimately ended, but I would at least have liked for Lee to get a chance to continue fighting as it was obvious he still had some fight left in him.

All that aside, Vera fought a great fight and deserves credit for taking Lee out of his comfort zone and turning the fight into a brawl. Unfortunately, a questionable stoppage by the referee put an asterisk next to Vera’s win as most fans in the crowd thought it was an unwarranted stoppage. This fight also showed that Lee needs to be more disciplined in the ring and stick with his strategy. This should prove to be a good learning experience for Lee who showed tremendous skill in this fight and who will come back a smatter and better boxer. On the bright side, perhaps we can soon see a rematch between these two men, which should prove to be another exciting, drama filled fight.

Questions? Comments? Write Oleg Bershadsky

3-21-2008