Lee triumphs in first Limerick bout
Andy Lee's homecoming fight went without a glitch last night as he destroyed Argentina's Alejandro Falliga in five furious rounds at the University of Limerick Sports Arena.
In the first professional boxing show to be put on in Limerick, Lee took his unbeaten record to 15-0 (12 Kos) with another confident display.
The 23-year-old middleweight floored Falliga in the secound round and sent him to the canvas three times in the fifth round to score a TKO victory.
Lee was disappointed afterwards that his Buenos Aires-based opponent, who was being stopped for the first time in his professional career, fought so negatively.
In truth, it seemed that Falliga was just stunned by the power of the Limerick man's punches and quickly went into damage limitation mode.
He had no answer to the hard-punching southpaw's shots off both his right and left and Lee's height advantage allowed him to line up his attacks as he pleased.
Lee's boxing was crisp throughout, although it did become clear in the middle rounds that the occasion and the emotion of fighting in front of his home fans was getting to him as he searched for a knockout punch to delight the masses.
Falliga did connect with a left hook and a straight right hand in the first hand but Lee was untroubled and a lovely right hook, close to the bell, left its mark on the South American.
Frustration got the better of Lee, early in the second round, when he hit Falliga with a couple of punches to the back of his head but referee Emile Tiedt decided not to punish the hometown fighter.
Lee was quickly back on the attack and some superb combination punches saw Falliga off his feet again towards the end of the round.
The challenger wobbled again in the third round as Lee connected with a huge right hand and although he was struggling to cope with the pressure, he did last until the fifth round.
A thunderous left hand sent Falliga down, a minute into the fifth. He continued but he was soon down again thanks to a peach of a hook from the Emanuel Steward fighter.
The telling blows arrived some seconds later when Lee launched two stiff right hands and Falliga's night was over, with referee Tiedt sensibly stepping in to end the fight.
Lee is scheduled to fight again on February 29 in Michigan and he also has a March 21 date with Texan super middleweight Brian Vera pencilled into his diary.
His trainer Steward spoke afterwards about the possibility of Lee facing the winner of June's proposed title fight between current WBC and WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik and Derryman John Duddy.
