ANDY LEE OVERCAME a torrid start against John Jackson to knock out his Virgin Islands opponent in the fifth round and claim the vacant NABF light middleweight belt. The Limerick native turned defence into attack to drop Jackson with a counter right that had the 21,090 fans at Madison Square Garden on their feet.
Lee was knocked down in round one and Jackson had the better of the following three rounds. The fifth round did not seem to be going much better for the 2004 Olympian but his crunching right up, with Jackson brewing up for a blow of his own, ended the contest.
Check out the finish here:
Here is a video of the final minutes of the bout:
Lee tweeted this fitting picture after the bout:
In the night’s main event, Miguel Cotto pummelled Sergio Martinez for nine brutal rounds before he was eventually awarded him a TKO win. The Puerto Rican sent the WBC middleweight champ to the canvas three times in the first round and never let up thereafter.
Martinez took a seat in his corner ahead of the 10th round but never got up when the bell rang, leaving referee Michael Griffin to call the fight in Cotto’s favour.
“I got hit with a right hand (in the first round) and I was cold,” Martinez said. “I never recuperated after that.”
– First posted at 9:50am today
