Wheaton native finds his calling in boxing ring

On the verge of the biggest fight of his life, boxer Mike Lee is at ease.

The 22-year-old Wheaton native fought in his first organized bout just three years ago. Now he is poised to make his professional debut on Saturday night at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago.

It's a homecoming for Lee, who has spent five months training with renowned boxing trainer Ronnie Shields. There will be television cameras, and hundreds of family members and friends will be in the crowd cheering him on.

Still, Lee shows no sign of nervousness during a recent telephone interview.

"I am pretty relaxed at this point," said Lee, a 2005 graduate of Benet Academy in Lisle. "I try to stay as relaxed and calm as possible until I am in the dressing room and they start taping my hands."

For Lee, it's about maintaining the determination and focus that helped him earn a finance degree from the University of Notre Dame while racking up an impressive 16-0 record as an amateur boxer, including three straight championship victories at Notre Dame's Bengal Bouts and the Chicago Golden Gloves light-heavyweight boxing title in April 2009.

Midway though last week, Lee wasn't certain who his first pro opponent would be. It doesn't matter, he said, because, "I need to focus more on what I'm doing."

"It (Saturday's fight) is a big event for me," he said. "I have always risen to the challenge before, and I plan to do it again."

All-around athlete

Boxing was the only sport John Lee didn't introduce to his son.

Growing up in Wheaton, Mike Lee played baseball, hockey, football and basketball. When he attended Benet, he was a starting linebacker on the football team.

"He played whatever sport was in season," John Lee recalled. "He was always very competitive. He was always very serious. You never had to ask him to train."

Then, when he was about 16, Mike Lee told his parents he wanted to visit a boxing gym. They took him to the famous Windy City Boxing Gym in Chicago.

"He knew no one," John Lee said. "We dropped him off and figured either everybody is going to beat him up and he's going to hate it or he's going to do well."

Once he entered the ring for the first time, Mike Lee recalls saying to himself: "Man, this is it. This is my sport."

Lee says other sports simply don't give him the same adrenaline rush as boxing.

"There's got to be something a little bit wrong with you to love the sport," he said. "You've got to love hitting, and you've got to love the aggression."

Even when he was the one getting the brunt of the punishment during some of his earliest sparring sessions, Lee got up and went right back at it.

He was 19 when he fought his first organized fight. It was scheduled to last three rounds but was over in less than one. Lee knocked out his opponent in about 1 minute, 30 seconds.

"I think it was pretty sloppy," he recalled. "It was just pure adrenaline and athleticism that got me through the fight. I don't know how great my technique was. I just kind of went out there like an animal."

The experience convinced Lee that boxing is a sport like no other.

"You play baseball," he said. "You play football. You don't play boxing."

The other dream

Mike Lee always wanted to study at Notre Dame.

That desire didn't die when he graduated from Benet in 2005 and attended the University of Missouri.

"I didn't really mature as a student until I got to college," said Lee, adding that he transferred to Notre Dame after his freshman year.

Once he was on the Notre Dame campus, his life changed dramatically.

He got involved with the school's annual Bengal Bouts. The tournament, which dates to 1920, raises money for Holy Cross Bengal Missions in what is now Bangladesh.

By his senior year in February 2009, Lee had won his third straight Bengal Bouts title. It also was becoming clear he had pro boxing potential.

Still, he was determined to graduate.

"I worked so hard to get into Notre Dame that I wanted to get my diploma," he said. "That was the number one goal no matter what happened."

John Lee said he was proud to see his son graduate with a finance degree in 2009.

"His first dream was to go to Notre Dame," the elder Lee said. "His second dream was to be a champion. Now his dream is to be a successful professional athlete."

Enjoy the ride

John Lee says he's very supportive of his son's decision to become a professional boxer.

"It's a thrill to watch anyone - let alone my own flesh and blood - chase a dream," he said.

Mike Lee kicked off his pro career in February with two news conferences announcing his affiliation with Top Rank Boxing and legendary fight promoter Bob Arum.

By that time, he was training with Shields, who has worked with heavy hitters like Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Pernell Whitaker.

"He's just a great teacher," Lee said of Shields. "And that's exactly what I needed. I needed more than a trainer. Ronnie is teaching me every step of the way."

Shields has faith in his latest student.

"I've seen a lot of improvement," Shields said in a statement. "In everything I've been giving him, he's been improving on everything, especially his jab. I really looking forward for him to develop a really good jab. That will take him a long way in his a career."

The goal is to build on Lee's natural born power and transform him into a power puncher who can box. One area where Lee has improved significantly is with his conditioning.

"I have really leaned out, and I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life," Lee said.

That's significant because with 10-ounce gloves and no headgear in the pros, Lee says he can't afford to become fatigued during a fight. "When you get fatigued, you make mistakes and put your hands down," he said. "That's how guys get clipped."

Lee has no intention of making any mistakes during his professional debut on Saturday.

"To come back to Chicago and to have all my family and friends there is going to be really, really cool," he said. "There's going to be a lot of people there to support me. So I'm excited to show them the fighter I have become."

As for the fighter he hopes to someday be, he wants to have a long and successful career.

"I think about boxing 100 percent right now because that's what I want to do," he said. "I want a belt. I want to be a world champion. That's the number one goal. But first, I just want to learn as much as I can from Ronnie and do my best and win some fights."