Welterweight contender Paddy Donovan has paid tribute to coach Andy Lee as one in the last of a “dying breed” of boxing teachers.
The Irish duo is in mid-camp as Donovan prepares to face fellow Irishman Tyrone McKenna on September 5.
Donovan is the leading contender for Liam Paro’s IBF welterweight title but the opportunity to box on the huge Croke Park bill, topped by Katie Taylor in her farewell fight, while waiting for his shot has proved much for Donovan to resist.
It means he is back in the gym with coach Andy Lee, and Donovan scoffs at the cliché that there are no good teachers left in boxing – because he is learning every day.
Lee is more than a coach. He is a mentor and friend to Donovan.
“Yeah, listen, without Andy, I’d be in a strange place,” Donovan said. “I don’t even want to say where I’d be. I’ve got a great team and he’s been monumental to me. Keith Sullivan in America has been the same thing. These guys are keeping me up. It’s not about what Andy is doing, I think, in the ring that matters, because when I turn up to train I’ll always be the same. I’m very very disciplined. I work extremely hard, but sometimes I can suffer outside the gym and I think Andy’s done a great job managing me, like what Jose Mourinho did with Chelsea or Alex Ferguson did with Manchester United to all the players [as a man manger]. I think Andy is very very good at managing all of us in our own aspects individually, brilliantly. He’s done a great job and I’m still here. I’m still fighting and I’m still trying to keep on that path of becoming world champion, which is not easy. My god, it’s not easy. I never thought it was. When you start any sport really, when you’re a kid, you’re enjoying the sport, you’re doing it because you love it. But you kind of come to an age where things really change, your mindset really changes, problems start to come, family issues, blah blah blah, etc. But it goes for a lot of fighters. It’s not easy. I didn’t understand that it was going to be this tough, this challenging. But the main thing is just winning in the ring right now in my career and it’s the most valuable thing that I can do right now, so Tyrone is in my way and it’s probably the first fight where I feel like, not angry, but just want to get on with this. Get Tyrone out of the way and go win this world championship. Just as simple as that really. I know it’s not an easy task to do, but my god, I’m hungry now.”
Donovan was impressive when he boxed in Germany to decision tough Karen Chukhadzhian in May, improving to 15-2 (11 KOs) after consecutive defeats to countryman Lewis Crocker.
Coach Lee has an astute boxing brain, was a decorated former amateur who then learned life as a pro from the great Emanuel Steward before moving to Adam Booth after the Detroit legend passed away.
“I think Andy’s became a student himself under Emanuel Steward and under Adam Booth and I think Andy is a teacher, he’s one of the best at what he does,” Donovan added. “He’s not just an exceptional coach, but let’s just say maybe my story is not as dramatic as Mike Tyson and Cus D’Amato, but without Cus D’Amato, Tyson would have suffered early and Andy was that figure for me. Simple as.”
Are there moments in training when Donovan wonders what Lee learned from Steward and what he took from Booth?
“Yeah, in the lines of boxing-wise I always question that,” he said. “Well, for this camp I’ve been training a bit like the way Emanuel would have trained Andy, I suppose. But then there’s some fights where Andy has me on the pads and he’d be a bit like Adam Booth. But as a teacher, I think he’s so wise and intelligent. I think he has a bit of everything, a bit of Adam and a bit of Emanuel. I think Andy is just a different breed really. He’s the last of a dying breed, the way he can manage, the way he can speak and the way he can act. Thankfully Andy’s in my life.”