No Lee-Vera rematch

Immediately after middleweight Brian Vera stopped hot prospect Andy Lee in the seventh round for a major upset on last week's "Friday Night Fights," there was speculation that they would meet in a summer rematch. But that won't happen, according to Jeff Wald of "The Contender," Vera's promoter. "Not a chance on God's earth," Wald said when asked about a rematch by ESPN.com. "No reason to. Lee doesn't mean anything. There is no upside to a rematch. There are better fights out there for Brian. There are more meaningful opponents. I'm very proud of what Brian did because nobody gave him a chance. Why should we do a rematch? What for? There's better money elsewhere." Lee, a 2004 Irish Olympian, is trained and managed by Emanuel Steward, who was already looking ahead to a possible title fight with Kelly Pavlik before the shocking loss. They also were set to sign with Top Rank following the Vera fight. Although Lee lost, Top Rank's Bob Arum told ESPN.com that he still intends to sign Lee. "Sure, we still want to sign him," Arum said. "It won't be the same deal, and they know that. We'll tweak it. But we talked and we're going to go ahead and sign him. Hopefully, we can finalize it this weekend. I still think Andy is a hell of a prospect. Now it's up to our matchmakers, Bruce and Brad , to bring him along." Arum said if they can finalize the deal, he wants to put Lee in an untelevised bout on Pavlik's June 7 undercard. http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/notebook?page=notebook/boxingmarch28

Comments (7)

BrendanWoodside

Pretty much, "not a chance on god's earth!?" lol my goodness he sounds petrified. Vera wants the rematch as well. I know.. they are gonna try and milk him for any money he has in him which i guess is not much

18y ago

SkillspayBills

Man he might as well have said, "we're scared to death of a rematch because we know Lee will just easily UD him." Pretty much, "not a chance on god's earth!?" lol my goodness he sounds petrified. Vera wants the rematch as well.

18y ago

Hagler9733

vera spanked him in that first match and the way lee was fighting there is no reason why he cudnt do it again.

18y ago

RAESAAD

Man he might as well have said, "we're scared to death of a rematch because we know Lee will just easily UD him." No doubt but since he pulled of the giant upset he may as well run with it and try and get himself some paydays like Baldy did when he beat Zab......

18y ago

The_Monk

Man he might as well have said, "we're scared to death of a rematch because we know Lee will just easily UD him." Yeah, its so obvious they know he would lose the rematch. Fair enough though.

18y ago

DrewWoodside

I understand Vera's promoter's position. Vera's now not a complete waste so his promoter is going to try and get as much out of him as possible. Also, of course Arum is still going to sign Andy Lee. He's a freshfaced white kid, and he's got Manny Stewart committed to making something of him. Besides, if he kept up what he was doing between rounds 1-5 he would have won by an easy UD. Lee's matchmakers will be a little more careful pushing him this time.

18y ago

Antonio

Man he might as well have said, "we're scared to death of a rematch because we know Lee will just easily UD him."

18y ago