With college degree in hand, Brandun Lee is back to graduate as a champion
Jun 18, 2025 • 7:00 PM ET
MORENO VALLEY, California – It’s not everyday that a 24-year-old unbeaten, world-ranked boxer leaves the sport to finish college.
Brandun Lee did.
Saturday night in New Jersey, he returns to prove he’s not an everyday fighter.
Southern California’s junior-welterweight Lee 29-0 (23 KOs) meets Argentina’s Elias Damian Araujo 22-5 (9 KOs) at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, in the opening bout of an ESPN-Plus card headlined by Vito Mielnicki Jnr.
“I’ve been telling everyone, ‘Now that I’m out of hibernation, I’m ready to feast,’” Lee told BoxingScene Tuesday before departing East with his new trainer, the 2024 Bowing Writers Association Trainer of the Year Robert Garcia. “I took the time off and was focused on school, but now I’m back and 100 per cent dedicated to boxing and boxing only. It’s time to work.”
For Lee, 26, Saturday’s bout is just his second in the past 26 months. He’s also switched promoters during that time, aligning with Queensberry’s Frank Warren as he attained a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Cal State San Bernardino.
Lee said he’s free to pursue a later career either in Customs, or to return to college for his Master’s degree.
But as he assesses the 140lbs landscape now, with newer champions Richardson Hitchins, Alberto Puello and Gary Antuanne Russell, he sees opportunities to quickly return as a top-10-ranked fighter and hunt down a title or eliminator bout after “two to three fights.”
He said he was drawn to work with Warren after the British promoter swept Eddie Hearn in the “5 versus 5” tournament last June.
“Primarily, it was the opponent selection. He has a plan for me, and we like the plan,” Lee said.
In Araujo, Lee confronts “a strong, rugged, typical South American fighter who puts on a lot of pressure … he can take a punch.”
Joining trainer Garcia puts Lee in a gym with world champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, unbeaten interim junior-middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jnr and a slew of talented prospects.
“I’ve always wanted to be part of a full team. I have a strength and conditioning coach, a great trainer … I’m surrounded by greatness,” Lee said.
He said he’s driven to show in Saturday’s return “that I’m 100 per cent disciplined and back to boxing, with a new team and new trainer, and we’re ready to work and put on a show.”
Lance Pugmire has been a full-time boxing writer for nearly 20 years, serving now as BoxingScene’s U.S. Senior Writer and assistant producer for ProBoxTV’s “BoxingScene Today.” Pugmire capped a near 20-year career at the Los Angeles Times (sports investigations, NHL/MLB beat work, law enforcement/courts and boxing/UFC) to join The Athletic, and then USA Today. Pugmire’s stint at The Times started with the first Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez fight and the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jnr then-record pay-per-view, leading through a slew of ringside assignments at major bouts, including Mayweather-Pacquiao, Mayweather-Canelo and the Canelo-Golovkin trilogy. Lance’s appreciation for boxing is rooted in his admiration and appreciation for the fighters, gladiators who have proven to be the most forthcoming and candid of all the athletes he has interviewed over a career dating to 1990. Lance was honored to be named the 2022 winner of the Boxing Writers Association of America Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence and he’s collected many BWAA writing awards in categories ranging from breaking news to deep-dive long features.
