ARLINGTON, Tex. – He graduated near the top of his class at Notre Dame with a major in finance and a grade-point-average of 3.8, or just two-tenths-of-a-point short of perfect.
So what’s somebody with a resume stamped for post-graduate study doing in a place that smart guys avoid?
Stupid question, at least it is when put to Mike Lee.
“I love to fight,’’ said Lee, the smart guy with the Notre Dame degree, the 3.8 GPA and a light-heavyweight apprentice who figures to extend his record to 3-0 against Keith DeBow (0-2-1) of St. Louis Saturday night on the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito undercard.
It is fitting, perhaps, that Lee will fight in a ring on a football field beneath the big top at Cowboys Stadium. Notre Dame and football are synonymous, although success is a fading factor in that part of the Irish tradition.
Notre Dame is 4-5 with a home game Saturday against No. 15 Utah. Lee has a better chance in Dallas than his alma mater has in South Bend, Ind., Saturday.
Some of his fellow alums seemed to know that Friday at a Friday weigh-in on the East Pavilion at Cowboys Stadium, where Pacquiao is 1-0, or one more than the home team has won this NFL season. They surrounded Lee, dressed in Notre Dame colors. Only that acrobatic Leprechaun was missing.
“With the football team struggling, maybe I can give them to cheer for,’’ said Lee, who weighed in at 175.25 pounds in front of a noisy crowd of more than 1,000. “I’d love to do that.’’
Lee’s interest in boxing started as a 16-year-old in Wheaton, Ill. He hung around the gym, listened to the rhythms of the speed bag, hit a few bags himself and began to think he wanted to step through those ropes. By the time he reached Notre Dame after a year at the University of Missouri, he did. It didn’t take long for him to realize he liked the action as much as he liked those financials.
He won the Bengal Bouts, which like so much of everything at Notre Dame has a football tie. It was started about 80 years ago by Knute Rockne.
“I had a lot of opportunities to train with good coaches and in a great environment,” said Lee, who has been working in Houston with trainer Ronnie Shields in gym that includes former lightweight champ Juan Diaz and junior-featherweight prospect Guillermo Rigondeaux. “But the priority was always to get my degree. That was first.
“Once I did that, I wanted to pursue something I think I love and I think I can be great at. I can only find out whether I can accomplish that now. I can’t wait 10 years from now. I wouldn’t want to wonder then whether I should have tried now.’’
Give him another A for knowing himself and what he wants.
