Andy Lee Aims To Box, Create Explosive Fight With Quillin
Apr 9, 2015 • 1:24 AM ET
By Edward Chaykovsky
"Irish" Andy Lee (34-2, 24 KOs) is mentally focused to defend his WBO middleweight title against undefeated challenger Peter "Kid Chocolate" Quillin (31-0, 22 KOs) in the televised co-featured attraction to the second installment of PBC on NBC, which begins at 8:30 p.m. ET. The fight takes place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
PBC on NBC is headlined by a showdown between junior welterweight champions Danny "Swift" Garcia (29-0, 17 KOs) facing Lamont Peterson (33-2-1, 17 KOs).
Tickets for the live event, which is promoted by DiBella Entertainment, are priced at $300, $200, $150, $100, $80 and $50, not including applicable service charges and taxes, and are on sale now.Tickets are available at www.barclayscenter.com, www.ticketmaster.com and at the American Express Box Office at Barclays Center. To charge by phone, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. For group tickets, please call 800-GROUP-BK.
Lee is feeling very confident after last year's come from behind knockout victory over undefeated Olympian Matt Korobov to pick up the vacant WBO world title. Quillin previously held the belt and vacated to focus on family matters.
"We've made unbelievable progress in the last year on my skills and everything has really just clicked for me and my team and now we're seeing the results in the ring. I'm very proud to be an Irishman from Limerick defending his world championship in New York, it doesn't get much better than that," Lee said.
"There's been a huge weight lifted off my shoulders since winning the world-title. It's what I always wanted to do and I've been touted as a champion for years and if I never got it I would have been disappointed. Now the monkey is off my back and I can just box and show people who I am.
"We've made physical and tactical improvements in the gym since the last fight and hopefully they'll show up in the ring on Saturday. I think this could be a technical fight or it could be a bit of a fire fight. It's going to be a little of both at times. There will be moments where we're looking at each other, figuring each other out, but once we exchange it could be explosive.
"Quillin is sure of himself, but he has to be, I have the same mentality. You have to be to compete in this sport. Fighting at home like Quillin is on Saturday, brings a different kind of pressure to the table, it's the pressure of expectations and people you know coming to the fights. That's also pressure and I know all about that. I haven't needed to build up my confidence for this fight. It's not time to think. It's time to do what I've been doing every day in the gym."
