Mike Lee (boxer)

Background

Lee is a 2005 graduate of Benet Academy in Lisle, Illinois where he was all conference linebacker in the Catholic League. Lee spent his freshman year at the University of Missouri and then transferred to the University of Notre Dame in 2006 and graduated with a 3.8 GPA in 2009 with a degree in finance from Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business. He was offered jobs on Wall Street. Lee says, "I relax by watching CNBC, and I like to read the Wall Street Journal."

Amateur career

Lee was introduced to the sport at age 16, when his cousin, who is an amateur boxer, took him to the Windy City Gym.

Notre Dame does not have an intercollegiate boxing team. However, Lee won the Bengal Bouts, an all campus intramural boxing tournament each of the three years that he attended the school.

During Lee's sophomore year, he won the 175-pound crown in a technical knockout that was called in the third round. In his junior year he was named junior captain and defended his title. Lee was named Boxer of the Year in his junior year, a feat that is typically reserved for a senior. Lee was named boxing team captain his senior year where he again won his third straight title in the Bengal Bouts.

Lee competed in the 2009 Chicago Golden Gloves competition in the sub-novice class, where Lee went undefeated in four matches, winning his class. In one memorable bout, Lee broke his opponents ribs thus immediately stopping the fight.

Pro career

Lee is the current IBF-USBA Light Heavyweight champion and is ranked in the top 15 of the light heavyweight world rankings. He trains with Jamal Abdullah at the famed Wild Card West Boxing Gym in Santa Monica, California. Prior to being in Los Angeles, CA full-time, Lee was in Houston, TX working with legendary trainer Ronnie Shields.

Lee won his professional debut on May 29, 2010 at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, in a four round unanimous decision over Emmett Woods. All three judges scored the fight 40-36, with Lee winning all four rounds on all judges cards. On September 11, 2010, at the Palms Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, Lee defeated Alex Rivera at 2:59 of the second round. Lee received national attention through his endorsement contract with Subway that resulted in his appearance in a 2013 Super Bowl television commercial.

Following Lee's knockout of Tayler Seever in August 2012, Lee did not fight again until April 2014, citing lower back issues as well as problems with his jaw stemming from use of Invisalign. Lee won his return to the ring - a sixth round TKO against Peter Lewison

On September 30, 2016 Lee won a ten round unanimous decision over Chris Traietti (21-4) at Chicago's UIC Forum to win the USBA-IBF Championship title. The scores were 98-91, 99-90, 99-90. The victory made Lee "the first fighter from Notre Dame’s legendary amateur boxing program to win a title in the professional ranks."

Charity work

In the summer of 2008 Lee went to Bangladesh to see first hand how the money raised during the Bengal Bouts is used to aid people of all different ages including the construction of an entire school for children. Lee has established a foundation to help fund the Holy Cross Missions of Bangladesh where a portion of his purse money will be donated. In partnership with Champions for Children, he donated two ringside seats plus travel expenses for his November 2010 fight. The charity benefits Children’s Memorial Hospital.

On September 16, 2011, Lee headlined a professional boxing event at The University of Notre Dame inside the Purcell Pavilion in the Joyce Center.

The Mike Lee Foundation pledged all profits from this event to the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation, the Robinson Community Learning Center in South Bend and the Kelly Cares Foundation, headed by Coach Brian Kelly of the Fighting Irish Football Team.