MANNHEIM, Germany – Irishman Andy Lee has become one of the sport’s in-demand trainers, but he knows he faces a tough task in Germany on Friday.
First, he has to rally Paddy Donovan from the two defeats his countryman is convinced were unjust. Secondly, he must guide him through a crucial IBF welterweight title eliminator against Karen Chukhadzhian.
A week later his goal is different when, in Giza, Egypt, he has the middleweight contender Hamzah Sheeraz up against Alem Begic.
His gym also includes light-heavyweight contender Ben Whittaker, who makes his US debut at the end of June, and the veteran heavyweight Joseph Parker.
“The fact is, when you’re winning fights and when you see fighters like Hamzah improving so much, you can learn so much off these guys,” said Donovan, 27. “Ben is a fantastic fighter. Hamzah is a fantastic fighter. So it’s obviously positive to see the gym winning.
“I think Hamzah is going to become a world champion and I think Ben is on the door of stardom. So to be surrounded by such an amazing athlete, some of the best athletes in the world, and trained by Andy is obviously a fantastic feeling.”
Early on in his career, the former WBO middleweight champion Lee was trained by Detroit legend Emanuel Steward. But when Steward became unwell, Lee started working with Adam Booth.
Steward was the mastermind behind the famous Kronk brand, and trained dozens of champions and elite fighters, from Tommy Hearns and Lennox Lewis to Michael Moorer and Hilmer Kenty.
At the time he worked with Lee, he was also coaching heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and the junior middleweight Cornelius Bundrage, and he would have them all move around in the ring together in his gym.
Does Andy have Paddy, for instance, in with the likes of Parker?
“Yeah, well, we’ve done some body sparring, myself and Ben, which is great,” Donovan said. Does Whittaker showboat against him?
“If he could,” Donovan smiled. “I’m on him. I’m sticking nice tight and close to him.
“But, yeah, listen, he’s obviously a fantastic fighter and even in body sparring, the both of us put out some of our hidden moves from our locker, I guess. But we’re so happy and it’s great to be learning off each other.”
And they all sit under the learning tree of Lee, the Limerick southpaw who delivered many thrills and spills in his own championship career. Lee was 35-3-1 (24 KOs) and, by the time he retired in 2017, he had created a knockout highlight reel.
For many, his one-punch knockout of John Jackson at Madison Square Garden in 2014 was the best of the lot, though there were others.
“John Jackson, really,” said Donovan. “It’s always going to be the standout knockout, really. It defines Andy’s career as a fighter, actually. It just felt like being on a Top Rank show, being slightly the underdog in the fight, being on the defense, needing a punch and to take it out of the locker shows an amazing heart; shows an amazing character.
“Sometimes it's not about looking good and getting the knockout. It’s about when you need a knockout, producing big knockouts. And I think Andy was a fighter that could do that. I think that’d be my favorite.”
There was also his slaying of Carl Daniels, and then the violent Las Vegas stoppage of Matvey Korobov to claim his world title.
“Korobov was a great knockout, too,” Donovan said.
“A lot of pressure [on Lee]; a good eastern European fighter. And I think he beat Andy in the amateurs, actually. And to get that knockout the way he did was obviously fantastic, to win a world title, so probably Korobov was probably his best knockout, really, when he looks back at his career.”
When Donovan looks back on his career years from now, he will hope that – like his mentor – he will have a world title on his mantlepiece.
Whether or not that comes against old rival Lewis Crocker, who defeated Donovan for the vacant IBF welterweight belt in September, Donovan does not mind.
“I just want to get back to stardom,” the Irishman said. “I just want to get up, challenging the champions and to get my hands on the world title. Let it be Lewis; let it be [Liam] Paro; let it be whoever has the title.
“I feel like winning this fight, I will become a world champion. And I’d love to fight Lewis again. And I think Croke Park [for Katie Taylor] is coming soon, so to fight Lewis, that would be fantastic. If it’s to happen, it’s to happen. But if it’s not, it’s not. That’s the way it is. But look, my main goal now is to be a world champion.”
