Brandun Lee (born April 25, 1999) is an American
professional boxer
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
who held the
IBO Inter-Continental
super lightweight
Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing Professional boxing
In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...
title in 2021. Lee's
knockout
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...
-to-win ratio stands at 85%.
Early life
Lee was born and raised in
Yuba City
Yuba City (Maidu: ''Yubu'') is a city in Northern California and the county seat of Sutter County, California, United States. The population was 70,117 at the 2020 census. Yuba City is the principal city of the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistical ...
, California to a
North Korean-born father and a
Mexican
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
mother. He lived there for about 12 years and then moved to the
Coachella Valley
, map_image = Wpdms shdrlfi020l coachella valley.jpg
, map_caption = Coachella Valley
, location = California, United States
, coordinates =
, width =
, boundaries = Salton Sea (southeast), Santa Rosa Mountains (southwest), San Jacint ...
. He attended
La Quinta High School, and played
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
and
ran track
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping event ...
as a youngster.
Lee faced
racial prejudice
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
growing up because of his Korean descent: he says other people would "stereotype a lot and look at my eyes and think Chinese", and "people thought that because I was Asian that I couldn’t fight. We would come down to
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
and they would say, “''We want the little Chinito''” which meant they wanted the “''Chinese''” kid".
Amateur career
Lee started boxing at around six years old,
and had his first
amateur
An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...
fight at age eight.
He won four Junior
Golden Gloves Championships, the Junior Silver Gloves three times and the Junior PAL five times. He was due to represent the U.S. in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, Russia, but his parents refused to let him skip school in order to participate.
Lee amassed an impressive amateur record of 181–9.
Professional career
Lee signed a professional contract with manager Cameron Dunkin in the fall of 2016 and debuted shortly afterward at age 17 the next year while he was still in high school.
He has been trained by his father Bobby Lee "since day one".
After compiling a perfect 21–0 record, he captured the vacant
IBO Inter-Continental
super lightweight
Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing Professional boxing
In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...
title on March 10, 2021, when he defeated Samuel Teah (17–3–1) by third-round knockout at the
Mohegan Sun Arena
The Mohegan Sun Arena is a 10,000 seat multi-purpose arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, located inside the Mohegan Sun casino resort. The arena facility features of configurable exhibition space and a clear span. It was built by the Perini Buil ...
in
Uncasville, Connecticut
Uncasville is an area in the New England town, town of Montville, Connecticut, Montville, Connecticut, United States. It is a Administrative divisions of Connecticut#Village, neighborhood, section of town, village in southeastern Montville, at the ...
.
In his next fight, Lee fought for the first time professionally in his home state of California, against Ezequiel Victor Fernandez (28–4–1) on the undercard of
John Riel Casimero
John Riel Reponte Casimero (born February 13, 1989) is a Philippines, Filipino professional boxer and YouTuber. He has held Triple champion#Boxing, world championships in three weight classes; including the IBF junior-flyweight title from 2012 t ...
vs.
Guillermo Rigondeaux
Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz (; born 30 September 1980) is a Cuban professional boxer. He is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the unified WBA (Super), WBO and ''Ring'' magazine super bantamweight titles between 2013 and ...
on August 14, 2021. Lee made quick work of his opponent, knocking Fernandez down 3 times in the first 100 seconds of the fight. The fight was waved off after the third knockdown, extending Lee's consecutive knockout victory streak to fourteen in a row.
Personal life
Lee was named after
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...
's son,
Brandon Lee
Brandon Bruce Lee (February 1, 1965 – March 31, 1993) was an American actor and martial artist. Establishing himself as a rising action star in the early 1990s, he landed his breakthrough role as Eric Draven in the dark fantasy film ''The ...
, because his father was a fan of the martial artist.
He has one older brother, whom he calls his "role model".
Unusually for a professional boxer, Lee is a full-time college student, having obtained an
Associates of Arts degree at
College of the Desert
College of the Desert (COD) is a public community college in Palm Desert, California. COD enrolls about 12,500 students, of which around one third attend college full-time. It serves the Coachella Valley of Riverside County. The college is federa ...
, before transferring to
California State University, San Bernardino
California State University, San Bernardino (Cal State San Bernardino or CSUSB) is a public research university in San Bernardino, California. Founded in 1965, it is one of the 23 general campuses of the California State University system. The m ...
with the aim of earning a
bachelor’s degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six y ...
in criminal justice. He has further plans to obtain a
master's degree in business.
He is largely a monolingual English speaker, stating that he does not speak Korean. Regarding his Spanish proficiency, he admits that he "can’t carry on a conversation but I can speak some words here and there".
Lee has named
Mike Tyson
Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "The Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson is cons ...
,
Felix Trinidad
Felix may refer to:
* Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name
Places
* Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen
* Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...
,
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. (''né'' Sinclair; February 24, 1977) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer. He currently owns a team in the NASCAR Cup Series named The Money Team Racing. As a professional boxer he competed b ...
,
Gennady Golovkin
Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin (Cyrillic: ; also spelled Gennady; born 8 April 1982), often known by his nickname "GGG" or "Triple G", is a Kazakhstani professional boxer. He has held multiple middleweight world championships, and is a two-time ...
and
Vasyl Lomachenko
Vasyl Anatoliyovych Lomachenko ( uk, Василь Анатолійович Ломаченко, ; also spelled Vasiliy; born 17 February 1988) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes fr ...
as his boxing influences,
and is a longtime friend of fellow American boxer
Jaron Ennis
Jaron Ennis () is an American professional boxer. As an amateur, he won a silver and gold medal at the U.S. National Golden Gloves Championships in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
Professional career
Ennis made his professional debut on April 30, ...
.
His favorite
Korean food
Korean cuisine has evolved through centuries of social and political change. Originating from ancient Prehistoric Korea, agricultural and nomadic traditions in Korea and southern Manchuria, Korean cuisine reflects a complex interaction of ...
is
bulgogi
''Bulgogi'' (불고기; ; from Korean language, Korean ''bul-gogi'' ), literally "fire meat", is a ''Gui (food), gui'' (구이; Korean-style grilled or roasted dish) made of thin, marination, marinated slices of meat, most commonly beef, gri ...
.
Professional boxing record
Notes
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Brandun
1999 births
Living people
American male boxers
Light-welterweight boxers
Boxers from California
People from Yuba City, California
People from La Quinta, California
American sportspeople of Mexican descent
American sportspeople of Korean descent