By Shaun Brown

‘Irish’ Andy Lee 33-2 (23) gave his reaction to today’s news that compatriot Matthew Macklin 30-5 (20) is chasing a middleweight showdown with the 30-year old in November.

Macklin, who had been due to fight Daniel Geale on May 24 before the show was cancelled will return to action on Aug 30 in Dublin on a Matchroom Boxing promotion. A win for the former world title challenger could finally pave the way for the highly anticipated all-Irish showdown.

“Yeah hopefully it does work out that way,” Lee told ‘Scene earlier today. “I think Adam [Booth] has spoken to Eddie Hearn once about it and that’s as far as it’s gone from our side but I’m open to the fight and hopefully it can be done.

“I don’t see any obstacle there. I want the fight and if he wants the fight we’ll get it on. We’ll see where the land lies, let him have his fight in August and see where we’re at then.”

And Lee says he has no problem returning to 160lbs after a successful bow at 154lbs against John Jackson, last month, with one of the knockouts of the year.

“There’s only a four pound difference, it’s not a great deal. If the right fight came along at 160 I’d fight there again.”

“It was a nice punch,” said Lee about his big KO win. “It needed to be done. It was a big fight on a big stage and I needed to have a big performance and get a big result and that’s what I did. I announced myself again on the big stage, I was very happy with it.”

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