WORLD heavyweight champ Wladimir Klitschko bought Limerick southpaw Andy Lee a birthday cake and sang happy birthday to him in the Austrian Alps last month.

Lee, who celebrated his 25th birthday on June 25, was in training camp with Dr Steel Hammer in Tirol in the Austrian Alps and his shadow disappeared off the wall as he was throwing hooks at it – given the ex Irish Olympians KO rate, would you blame it?

Lee said: “I was having a light work-out and the lights went down and Wladimir appeared with a birthday cake and the entire gym in Tirol joined him in singing happy birthday to me. It isn’t often that a person gets a world heavyweight champion singing happy birthday to them, so that’s another one for the record books for me.”

But now that the yodeling is over, what next for Ireland’s only boxer at the 2004 Olympics in Athens? Lee first came to prominence at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Cuba.

The then St Francis Limerick clubman reached the final that year but was beaten by Cuban light middleweight Novelias Dias in front of over 10,000 ranting, raving and frothing-at-the-mouth fight fans in Santiago de Cuba – think of Thomond Park when the English are in town. Fidel Castro’s boys and Shannonsiders take their boxing and rugby very seriously.

Ah, but the Cubans, the sly commie fiends, switched the venue from Havana to Santiago de Cuba at the last moment – there was no air conditioning in the latter venue – and as explained by Lee, the humidity was so high it was difficult to breathe, never mind throw punches.

“He won the fight fair and square on the night and I’m not complaining. But I wouldn’t mind meeting him on a freezing February night in Limerick. The heat and humidity were the worse I’ve ever experienced. The home fans weren’t exactly chanting my name or blowing kisses at me either.” said the Castleconnell man at the time.

However, Lee, as it turned out, never did get the opportunity to put the record straight because he was coming to the attention of legendary coach Emanuel Stewart.
Stewart has trained and managed over thirty world champions, including Thomas “the hit man” Hearn’s, Lennox Lewis and Jermaine Taylor. He worked Lewis’s corner in Memphis in 2002 when the Canada-born Briton left Mike Tyson all shook up with an 8th round KO.

Someone called Muhammad Ali, aka Cassius Clay, – never heard of him myself – also trained at his famed Stewarts gym in Detroit. The Kronk is situated on the southwest side of Motor City and isn’t exactly highlighted on the tourist map. In short, you wouldn’t be going for a stroll of an evening down around the area unless you’d developed a sudden taste for intensive care units – and we’re not talking about boxing.

Incidentally Ali is a Clareman. According to Thomas Hauser in his prize-winning book on Ali, Ali’s mother, Odessa Grady Clay’s, grandfather was a white Irishman named Abe Grady. Grady emigrated to the USA from County Clare soon after the American Civil War and married a “free coloured woman”, whose name is unknown.

Meantime, while Stewart was aware that Lee was beaten in the World junior final he was more interested in how the Limerick man beat American champ Jesus Gonzalez in the semi-finals. The Kronk supremo had a video of that fight and was so impressed with the performance of 6ft 2in Shannonsider that he wanted to sign him to the pro ranks there and then but Lee wanted to realise a lifetime’s ambition and represent Ireland at the Olympic Games.

“I remember watching Michael Carruth winning gold in Barcelona in 1992 and I was dancing around the family room in London”, he said. “England wanted me to box for them and I was eligible. But not a chance, I always wanted to represent Ireland and my mind was made up.”

Lee’s Olympic opportunity arrived in 2004. Having claimed two Irish senior titles up to that point, the St Francis man travelled to Pula, Croatia, for the European Championships and Olympic qualifiers and booked his ticket for the 28th Olympiad in Athens courtesy of reaching the semi finals, winning a bronze medal into the bargain.

But he ended up being the only boxer from this island in the Greek capital as his close friend Ken Egan, who was robbed of Olympic gold in Beijing last August following his controversial defeat to Xiaoping Zhang of China, and Paul McCloskey, narrowly failed to qualify.

Lee’s got off to a flying start at the Athens Olympics, beating Mexican puncher Alfredo Angulo by a country mile. But disaster struck in the last 16 after he was edged out by Hassan N’Dam NJikan of the Cameroon on a count-back after both boxers were tied at 27-27 at the final bell. The count-back system eliminates the highest and lowest scores of two of the five judges and decides the bout on the remaining three in the event of a tie.

Lee travelled back to Ireland and won his third Irish senior title early in 2005.  He then helped Ireland to a 6-2 win over a star-studded Cuban selection in Dublin in April of that year, slaughtering Cuban champion Yordanis Despaigne at the National Stadium to help the auld sod on its way.

But Stewart was still inquiring, and despite being made the biggest offer in Irish amateur boxing history by the Irish Sports Council to stay away from the pay per punch game, Lee decamped to the USA and inked a five year contract with the Detroit Kronk, where he has been allowed to add a green strip and shamrock to the famous red and gold colours of one of the most famous gyms in the world.

He has since won 18 of his 19 fights as a pro. His most famous victory to date arrived at Madison Square Garden in March2007 when he KO’d former World champ Carl Daniels in the third round.

Jake LaMotta, the boxer played by Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull, – yes he’s still alive – (“you never put me down Ray, Ray, you never put me down”) was at ringside for that fight: “Wow, the lights went out on Broadway. This Irish kid’s got class.” he told the New York Post.

Lee v Daniels: Madison Square Garden

Lee’s only defeat in the paid ranks arrived at the hands of Brian Vera in Connecticut a year later.  The Limerick man, who was well ahead on points in the seventh round, allowed himself to be suckered into a bar room brawl with Vera and the fight was stooped in the Texan’s favour following some furious close range combat.

But Lions captain Paul O’Connell was on his feet at ringside to see Lee bounce back from that reversal with a sensational 10th round stoppage of American middleweight Willie Gibbs at the University of Limerick a few months later.
Gibbs, well behind on points, locked destined to reach the sanctuary of the final bell but was left adopting a horizontal position after being dropped by a beautiful left, Lee finishing off the job in a neutral corner, obliging Gibbs’s corner to throw in the towel with just seconds remaining.

So what now for the stylish Limerick southpaw?  Or to be more precise, can he become the first man from Limerick to be crowned middleweight champion of the world?

“The plan is to keep working, to keep aiming for my goal and that is a world title. The last few years have been a learning curve for me. I certainly learned a lot from the Vera fight, so that just proves that you can learn more from defeat that victory.

“The important thing for me is that I still enjoy the sport. It’s tough being a pro, you lead a very disciplined lifestyle. But that’s all part of the game. The next twelve months will a massive year for me and the plan is to keep moving up through the rankings.

“Someone once said to me, if you keep winning then sooner or later someone will be handing you a gold medal or a title – my aim is to keep winning.

“I’d also like to get back home to fight in Limerick again. The atmosphere at the University of Limerick for my two fights was absolutely incredible. Fighting in Madison Square Garden was a special moment for me, a proud moment. Ali fought there,Sugar Ray Robinson, Oscar De la Hoya, it’s the Mecca of boxing.

“But those two fights just up the road from my family’s home were electrifying. Those nights are amongst the highlights of my career and I will cherish them long after I have hung up my gloves. I would like to thank the people of Limerick for coming out to support me and for helping to create those memories for me.

“Limerick is a great city with a great sporting tradition. I detest all this negative publicity we get, half of it is just complete and utter nonsense. Sure we have problems, but what city doesn’t? I’m very proud to be from Limerick and I think we can all do our bit in helping to project a positive image of our city.”

“Maybe I can help to project that positive image by becoming world champion, that’s certainly my ambition, my dream but I also think that it is important that I project a positive image outside the ring in that I conduct myself with dignity and respect. I never trash talk my opponents or engage in the some of the nonsense that goes on in this sport, particularly before fights.

“As said, my target is a world title. It can be a long and lonely road, but I believe I can get there.”

And what of his old foe Jesus Gonzalez, who Lee beat at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Santiago de Cuba?

“He’s doing well for himself as a pro. We’ve both come a long way since Cuba.”