Carr Zone: Commercial call to force Andy Lee's hand when it comes to first defence

Andy Lee, centre, celebrates after his victory against Matt Korborov.

Eamon Carr

DESPITE reports in some media that WBO world middleweight champion Andy Lee will be staging a first defence of his title in Dublin in March, it's now certain that Irish fans will have to wait a while longer to see their hero fight on home soil.

On the Late Late Show recently, Lee said that he'd like his first title defence to happen in Limerick or Dublin but admitted: "There's a lot of interest in America".

That interest now appears to have hardened into a commercial reality, as reports from sources in America confirm that Andy and coach Adam Booth have been made an offer they can't refuse. Full details will be announced shortly.

pppppppppppppppppppppppp

READER Patrick O'Leary from Kimmage agrees that Stephanie Roche should have won the Puskas Award. Topping the Pat Fenlon goal I mentioned last week, Patrick recalls a similar incident in 1953 when the great Charlie Tully scored from a corner for Celtic against Falkirk only to have referee insist it be retaken. Tully obliged and proceeded to score from the second corner as well.

The most famous goal directly from a corner that I've seen was probably Steve Staunton's left foot shot from the Havelock Square corner against Northern Ireland in 1993. It was a huge buzz. Ireland won 3-0 and went on to qualify for the World Cup USA '94.

pppppppppppppppppppppppp

WITH most of Ireland's Elite boxers competing in either the World Series Boxing or AIBA Pro Boxing, there will only be two defending champions in the National Elite Men's Finals at the National Stadium on Friday, Dean Walsh and Michael O'Reilly.

Olympian Darren O'Neill, who was Irish boxing team captain at London 2012, has moved from middleweight to heavyweight and is through to Friday's finals where he meets Ken Okungbowa (Athlone).

pppppppppppppppppppppppp

SILVER-TONGUED Conor McGregor took the first step towards defeating UFC

featherweight champion Jose Aldo by setting the mind games agenda following his win in Boston on Sunday.

Asked why he jumped out of the cage to have a go at Aldo, the stylish McGregor said, "I don't know. I just seen his skinny Brazilian head. They thought I was going to see my girlfriend or hug my girlfriend. They must have thought I was romantic. But I was just going to kill that little Brazilian."

Hopefully next time a victorious Notorious will get to sip his Midleton Rare ("That's a 20 grand bottle of whiskey") from Irish crystal glass and not what looked suspiciously like a plastic tumbler.