By Thomas Gerbasi
You could call them boxing’s odd couple. 23 year old Notre Dame grad Mike Lee and 30 year old Guillermo Rigondeaux, a defector from Cuba whose nearly 400 amateur fights have earned him a PhD in the School of Hard Knocks. But when the language is boxing, the two have no differences anymore. They’re brothers in the same fraternity, trying to discover and / or hone the secrets that will lead them to world championships.
Not surprisingly, it’s been Rigondeaux, already the interim WBA super bantamweight champion, helping to mentor the 4-0 Lee, a former Chicago Golden Gloves champion who returns to the ring in an ESPN-televised bout against Gilbert Gastelum on May 6th in Las Vegas.
“I spend a lot of time training with Guillermo, and I was actually in Ireland with them for a couple weeks training (before Rigondeaux’s one round stoppage of Willie Casey in March). He would always pull me to the side, and he’d have a translator with him, and we’ve gotten close. He’d watch me spar and watch me work out and he’d always teach me something new. And it’s cool because a guy like that has a wealth of knowledge and he would teach me new things that I would try out in the gym. Some would work for me and some wouldn’t, but I’m learning every single day, so I think a year or two years down the road, it’s gonna be really interesting to see where I’m at and how far I’ve developed.”
Trained by the world-renowned Ronnie Shields (who also mans Rigondeaux’s corner), Lee has been getting a crash course in the fight game in the Houston gym he now calls home. The enhanced level of media attention afforded Lee since he decided to leave his finance degree behind to pursue a boxing career is still there, but when the gym doors close, it’s time to work, and that’s something Lee has always been willing to do.
Of course, in this university, a passing or failing grade is determined by how many punches you took – or didn’t take – in sparring, and your professors may not only be veteran fistic professors like Shields, but fellow sweet scientists who can teach more than just how to throw a proper 1-2. In the pro game, fights are decided by inches, and it’s the little things that matter.
“I think the thing about boxing that a lot of people don’t realize unless you’ve been in the ring is that there are a lot of little things,” Lee agrees. “And whether it’s tendencies of your opponent or strategy or little habits that people have, you start to realize these things. I’m sparring so much better talent and learning from one of the best trainers in the world, so Ronnie’s one of those guys that will teach me a bunch of little tricks, and it seems like every other day that I’m learning something new, whether it’s from Ronnie or another fighter.”
In addition to Rigondeaux, Lee is surrounded by fighters like hot prospect Jermell Charlo and former world champs Kermit Cintron and Juan Diaz, and under Shields’ tutelage, Lee is learning outside the gym as well as in it.
“I was in Kermit’s corner when he fought Paul Williams, and I was in the corner with Juan when he fought (Juan Manuel) Marquez,” he said. “Ronnie wanted me to be at these fights because he wanted me to experience what it was like, and it’s a whole different atmosphere. And I think the good thing about some of the cards that I’ve been on is the fact that when it is my turn and when the pressure’s on and the lights are on, I’ve already seen it and I’m used to it and I love it. I’m one of those athletes that thrives under pressure and I’ve always been that way. On fight night I become a different person and the more fans, the more cameras and the more lights, the better for me. It doesn’t make me nervous, it makes me a better fighter.”
With four wins, no losses, and three consecutive knockouts, things are going as well as they could possibly go for the Illinois native. Yes, he’s fighting the usual suspects fed to newcomers to the pro game, he’s signed to a high powered promoter in Top Rank, and he’s had the good fortune to be on a Manny Pacquiao undercard when he blasted out Keith Debow in 93 seconds last November. What this does is make him an instant target, the supposedly coddled prospect who allegedly hasn’t paid his dues. Somewhere, there’s some 3-7 or 5-12 journeyman out there looking at Mike Lee and saying ‘that’s my ticket, if only I get the chance to punch it.’ And this kid’s no dummy. He knows what’s awaiting him, but he’s not apologizing for being given some great opportunities either.
“In this game you want to get exposure, and with the bull’s eye comes more exposure and hopefully bigger and better fights, and you’ve got to take that,” he said. “It’s like the kids who play football. If you’ve got the opportunity to play for USC or in the SEC or at a smaller school, I’m the kind of person who wants to be in the limelight and I want to prove what I’ve got. I want to be on the big stage and I know what comes with that. Guys look at me and they want to give me their best or take me out, knock me out, or test me, and I’m ready for it. The way Ronnie trains me in the gym, I don’t see myself not being ready for it, and if anything, it will give me some good fights leading up to when I do get the chance to start fighting for some belts.”
An instantly likeable young man who clearly has a good head on his shoulders and a rock-solid team behind him, Lee has the raw talent that can be honed into something special if he stays on the path he’s on. And when you consider his work ethic, it’s just another checkmark in the plus column.
Yet despite this, we are in boxing, and in boxing, there can be no feel good stories, only stories with a healthy dose of skepticism, and the scarlet letter pasted on Lee’s back is another ‘supposedly’ and ‘allegedly’; this one that because he doesn’t come with a harrowing backstory or that he’s fighting without the need to do it to escape a horrific situation that he is somehow less of a fighter. It’s laughable, but it’s something he’s learned to deal with.
“I guess I hear that when I do interviews, but anybody who’s in camp with me and trains with me or who’s around me knows that I’m just as hungry, if not hungrier than any other fighter,” he said. “I want this so bad that I’ve completely dedicated myself, and this is just my personality. And although it is my career, I’m not doing it to get out of an extreme poverty situation; I’m going because I love it and I want to be a world champion one day. That goal right there just drives me. And I’ve always been that kind of person that’s always pushed it, whether it was academically or in sports. I’ve always given a hundred percent, and it sounds cliché, but that’s the way I was raised and I think people are gonna see that in my fights as well.”
That’s all he can do, keep working, keep fighting, and keep winning fans and skeptics over with his performances. And eventually, he’s going to run into that one guy who’s not going anywhere, the one who will keep coming when he gets hit, and who will force Lee to answer the questions for himself that many already have for him. But you know what, he welcomes that fistic Q&A session, and that’s really what makes a fighter.
“I really think those kinds of moments for anybody, whether it’s a fighter or somebody dealing with something difficult in their life, I really think it’s one of those things you develop throughout your life,” he said. “For me, when I step in the ring, I’m more afraid of losing than I am of getting hurt, and that’s the truth. I want to win so bad that it’s innate inside me. In those moments where you hit a guy and he’s not going anywhere and you know you’ve got a long night ahead of you, you either have it or you don’t and I truly believe I have it in me, and one day I’ll be able to prove that.”