MCGREGOR STEPS UP
Under the radar, Scotland’s Lee is performing well at 56kgs
WHAT were the World championships in Hamburg last month like?
It was a great experience. I’d been to the World championships as a Youth, nothing quite like the seniors. The top fighters in the world. It was just a great experience all round.
I learned a lot from it and it’ll make me a better fighter definitely.
There were no mugs there. We knew whoever we drew it would be a tough fight so we knew we had to be at the top of our game.
What were your bouts like out there?
The guy from Vanuatu [Boe Warawara], he was not bad. To be fair it was quite a good draw for me. I never go into a fight thinking I’m going to win it or anything like that but if I’d drawn the American in the first fight I wouldn’t have had the mentality I had going into this fight. I was quite comfortable doing what I was doing. He was strong and he could punch. I put him down, I went in thinking he’s hurt and he ended up putting me down. That was an experience for me as well. I had to get up off the canvas then go on and win that fight. I still won that round as well, it was just a stupid shot but I’m glad it happened because I learned from it.
That fight I’ll take a lot from. I went into my next fight against the American [Duke Ragan]. I was so switched on, the tactics were spot on against him. I did exactly what I was told.
We knew he had fast hands, slow feet, typical American. I had to be in and out and I thought I did it well. There was nothing in any of the rounds. We obviously thought we had got it. They obviously thought they had got it. They did get it but that was against arguably one of the best in the world.
He got the silver medal, didn’t he?
He lost on a split in the final and he could easily have got his hand raised in the final. That’s arguably one of the best in the world. I 100 percent could have got my hand raised. It was just one of those fights.
Even Rob [Mccracken] said that to me after. He said everyone’s raving about this guy, he’s meant to be the next big thing and you’ve went in and made him look ordinary. You performed well. I’m glad, I was gutted about the result, but I’m happy with the way I performed.
What do you think of your English 56kgs rival, World medallist Peter Mcgrail?
Peter’s a great lad, a cracking fighter. We’ve had great sparring, pushing each other every day. Having bouts every day, that’s how competitive the spars are.
It’s good to have someone like that there, especially someone as talented as he is. I know I’m going to have to work hard if I’m going to get that number one spot. It’s not going to be easy.
I’m just going to get better and bigger and stronger. I’ve still got muscle to be put on.
So we’ll see what happens.