Lee looked comfortable as he took charge in the first four rounds with his straight left hand doing an amount of damage.

He floored his Texan opponent in the first, but Vera scrapped his way back into the fight and with Lee's game plan unravelling and his stamina sapped, the bull-like victor pulled off one of the upsets of the year.

Before leaving for a local hospital for stitches and a CAT scan, a bloodied and battered Lee admitted: Credit to him, he drew me into a fight. It was my own fault. I didn't listen to (my trainer) Emanuel (Steward).

"Vera's a tough guy. He was strong. I thought I could continue but it's the referee's decision. He hit me too much."

Lee should have used his jab to keep the shorter Vera at bay but the lure of an all-out battle saw the Limerick man badly caught out.

Clearly disappointed by his fighter's display, Steward said afterwards: "Andy wanted to fight him too much. He stayed on the inside too much, trying to fight him and he got tagged. It happens. It happened to Billy Conn too.

"We're already trying to set up a rematch in July. Andy just made a mistake. He let Vera turn it into a brawl."