Super prospect Andy Lee’s hopes of fighting Kelly Pavlik for the Middleweight championship were dashed last night on Friday Night Fights with a 7th round KO loss to Brian Vera in a huge upset. Vera was briefly on the boxing reality TV show “The Contender” season 3 and gave finalist Jaidon Codrington a tough scrap before getting stopped by KO. BodogLife.com had Andy Lee as a -1300 boxing betting favorite in Andy Lee vs Brian Vera.

Boxing like no other sport has one intangible that can trump talent and that is desire. While Andy Lee was the technically superior fighter to the crude Texan Vera, Lee was bullied and beaten up by a fighter that simply wanted to win more. The lanky 6’2” Lee put Vera down early in the opening round but Vera came back and walked through everything Lee had from that point on.

Vera was the aggressor throughout as he hammered Lee in the face with sweeping right hands that had Lee busted up and bleeding from the eye by the fight’s conclusion. Lee didn’t have enough firepower to keep the gutsy Vera off him, and eventually Lee was just broken down by the shorter man’s will. The end came in the 7th round when an arm weary Lee got plastered by a boatload of Vera right hands that prompted the referee to call a halt to the action. BodogLife.com had the OVER\UNDER at 5.5 rounds for Andy Lee vs Brian Vera.

---