Three years in the making, Andy Lee's rematch with the only man to defeat him is finally set for Oct.1 at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, the Limerick southpaw confirmed last Saturday.
He will face Bryan Vera, the tough Texan who survived a first round knock down to score a controversial seventh round TKO back in March 2008.
The scheduled ten-rounder will be on the undercard of Sergio Martinez' World Boxing Council [WBC] Diamond middleweight title match with Englishman Darren Barker.
Also scheduled to appear on the DiBella Entertainment card is Long Island light heavyweight Seanie Monaghan against an opponent to be named. Monaghan won an impressive KO victory over the brawny Brian Bernard on Saturday night. The fight at Brooklyn's Aviator Sports & Events Complex lasted 1 minute, 29 seconds.
"Yes, the fight's confirmed," Lee told the Echo. "I'm fighting Vera Oct. 1 in Atlantic City. As you know I've been wanting this fight for a while now and I'm pleased it's finally been made.
"I'm currently in Chicago doing my strength and conditioning, I'll be here for three weeks then back for Detroit to focus on the boxing work. This is the biggest fight on my career so far, I'm doing everything to ensure a top performance.
"Vera will be a rough fight, he's a tough man who comes to fight but I'm ready for him, I know what I have to do to win."
Since losing to the American three years ago, Lee has won 11 fights, nine of them via knockout. His last outing was a lopsided 10-round unanimous points decision over Alex Bunema for the NABA and NABF middleweight belts.
Vera, on the other hand, has fought just seven times since arguably his biggest professional victory. And he's lost four of those fights including a bid for the WBO Inter-continental title. However, the 29 year-old is on a two-fight winning streak going into the rematch with Lee, who's 27.
An impressive win over the 19-5 [12 KOs] Vera would appreciably raise Lee's stock in the middleweight division and put him on the cusp of a world title shot. The 26-1 [19 KOs] Irishman is ranked second by both the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation. Vera is 11th in the WBO rankings.
MCBRIDE FELLED IN 4TH
Kevin McBride's long sought world title bid was ended by a devastating one-punch KO loss to Polish giant Mariusz Wach in the fourth round of their championship match at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., last Friday.
The 6-foot-six inch "Clones Colossus" was leveled by a jarring right hand to the chin at 2:25 and appeared unconscious even before he hit the canvas. He left the ring on a stretcher.
With the stunning knockout, the undefeated Wach, who is an inch and a half taller than McBride, claimed the WBC International heavyweight belt. He upped his record to 25-0 [13 KOs]. McBride's ledger dropped to 35-10-1 [29 KOs] and the Boston-based Irishman may now be done as a prizefighter.
It was his third defeat to a Polish fighter -- after previous losses to Andrew Golota and Tomasz Adamek - and his sixth setback in eight bouts since shocking Mike Tyson in 2005.
Although he claimed to have trained hard for Wach, McBride entered the ring at a career-high 296 pounds. Wach, meanwhile, was a relatively trim 245, the lightest of his six-year career.
The Pole's superior conditioning showed and his technique was telling from the first bell against his flabby opponent. He had his way with the slower McBride, connecting consistently with an assortment of body shots and straight rights to the head.
McBride attempted to turn the fight into a brawl in the second round and succeeded in landing a hard shot that Wach took well.
The Pole's methodical assault, however, continued to vex McBride vexed long before he finally pulled the trigger late in the fourth stanza.
