Photo Rich Schultz-Getty Images
When Yogi Berra coined the legendary phrase “it ain’t over till it’s over,” he was making a simplistic comment about the sporting world. You play hard until the end, because you never know what can happen until the game is over.
Except, a lot of times, that isn’t true. The Denver Broncos had no chance of winning at the two minute warning of the Super Bowl, when they were down 43-8. They played out the game, but it was over long before the final stroke of the fourth quarter clock.
The beauty of boxing is that things are never over, no matter how lopsided the score, no matter how badly a fighter is losing. As long as a fighter is standing up, he has a chance.
Ask Andy Lee.
The Irish southpaw was teetering dangerously close to the end Saturday night on the Miguel Cotto vs. Sergio Martinez undercard. Going into the fight, he knew that a loss to John Jackson would spell the end of his days as a contender, and the beginning of his days as division gatekeeper.
Lee was brought up to be the next world champion, guided by the brilliant Emanuel Steward. He rattled off 15 consecutive victories to start his career, before defensive breakdowns and stamina issues led him to take his first loss, a seventh round TKO at the hands of tough-as-nails Brian Vera.
Lee really never got back on track to be the dominant fighter many thought he’d become. Instead, the Irishman plugged away, scoring a come-from-behind knockout win over Craig McEwen before avenging his loss to Vera with a wide decision victory.
He was awarded a big fight in June of 2012 when he took on Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in Texas. He started out well before wilting to the bigger Chavez’s relentless attack. He was stopped, once again in the seventh round.
Lee scored a couple of obscure victories before landing a spot on Saturday’s undercard against Jackson, who is the son of murderous puncher Julian Jackson. Although Lee had fought his entire career as a middleweight, he came down to junior middleweight for the fight.
The fight started, and moving down in weight seemed like a god awful idea, as Roy Jones pointed out 47 times. Jackson nailed Lee with pretty much everything he threw. In the first round, with both fighters in a southpaw stance, Lee threw a looping left that Jackson ducked under while throwing a perfect counter right hook.
Lee was looking up from the mat for the first time in his career. He got up, but the tone was set.
Jackson was scoring, and Lee was falling behind.
John may not quite have the power his father displayed, but he hits hard nonetheless, and as the fight wore on, Lee’s face was becoming a bloody mess. It soon appeared as though he’d end up looking like Jared Leto in Fight Club. It seemed like only a matter of time before Lee was on the bad end of another knockout loss.
The fifth round started much like the others did, with Jackson catching Lee clean. The beginning of the end came when Lee attempted a body shot that Jackson timed perfectly, catching Lee coming in with a gorgeous uppercut. Lee went back into the ropes, and Jackson teed off.
Jim Lampley was beginning to comment on how Jackson’s power was too much for Lee, and in an instant, the fight was over.
Except that the guy who was taking the beating was the one with his arms raised in victory.
Andy Lee scored the biggest knockout of his career when all seemed hopelessly lost. The score didn’t matter, nor did the beating he took. Jackson had gone in for the kill, throwing a monster left hand. But Lee leaned to his side and threw the perfect punch, a counter right hook that landed square on Jackson’s jaw.
Photo by Rick Schultz/Getty Images
Jackson fell to the mat with his arms sprawled out like a drunken toddler, and Lee scored the probable knockout of the year, just as we writers were typing away about his demise.
That punch is the reason we love this sport. It’s the reason we put up with the failed drug tests, fight cancellations, promoter spats, lawsuits, corrupt judges, awful referees and Jim Gray. It’s the reason we don’t walk away when fighters refuse to fight one another.
It’s because Peyton Manning can’t throw a 35 point hail mary, but Andy Lee did.
The year is half over, and before it’s out we’re guaranteed to see another hideous scorecard turned in by an incompetent judge, and another premature stoppage. And we’ll probably have to see Justin Bieber wearing some sort of weird dress into the ring in September.
But we’ll put up with all of it, in the hopes of seeing that miracle shot again. And when we see it, all of that other stuff won’t seem as bad. Except for Bieber.
It ain’t over, till it’s over.
Some notes from last week’s main event:
We writers are the worst. We’re either saying that Miguel Cotto is a monster, Freddie Roach is god and he’ll murder GGG, or we’re talking about how Martinez was a shot fighter whose knee exploded mid first round and bone fragments were everywhere.
While Cotto looked fantastic, Sergio just didn’t have it. A long layoff is a career killer at 39 years old, and while Martinez was trying to ease into the fight, Cotto was going in to destroy him. It worked. Next time? Depends on the fighter.
Cotto earned another monster fight, and by refusing to stay down, Martinez showed what a warrior really looks like, even a faded one.
