Irish middleweight Andy Lee will have to wait almost two weeks extra to make his professional debut at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
Detroit based Lee had been due to have his first pro fight on February 17th at the 20,000 all seater home of ice hockey side the Detroit Red Wings.
However the former St Francis Limerick southpaw confirmed yesterday that promoters had requested more time to promote the fight against an opponent yet to be named.
"My professional debut has been pushed back to the beginning of March which is not a problem for me as it gives me more time to prepare", said Lee.
"My training is going very well here at the Kronk Gym and I did seventeen rounds of sparring last week and we are bringing in some more sparring partners this week", he added.
Lee revealed that the new date for his pro debut has a special significance for his coach Emanuel Stewart, who has trained and managed over thirty world champions.
On March 2nd 1980, Stewart was in Hilmer Kent's corner when the Texan won the WBC World Lightweight title at the Joe Louis Arena.
"It's a special date and venue for Emanuel as Hilmer Kent was his first world champion and hopefully I can give him something extra to celebrate on March 2nd", Lee added.
