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Photos © Tom Casino/SHOWTIME
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What a turnaround one fight can make. Joe Calzaghe came into Saturday’s super middleweight clash with his legacy on the line. Accused of being a protected fighter on the wrong side of 30, Calzaghe’s days seemed numbered by the power punching phenom, Jeff Lacy. Boxing website forums and writers alike had Lacy winning this one with maybe a tough moment or two but relatively easily. But a funny thing happened on the way to Easy Street: Joe Calzaghe came to fight with all the guile, passion and skills of a southpaw veteran boxer-puncher and turned what should have been Lacy’s coronation into a very public execution.
“It was total focus, dedication and determination,” said Calzaghe, 41-0 (31), of the win. “In fighting a great fighter like Jeff Lacy, it brought out the best in me. I was able to deliver.
“I knew Lacy’s only chance was to stand in there and go toe-to-toe. So, I knew I had to move fast, use the jab and combinations, and get in and out quickly.”
From the opening moments, Calzaghe took control. With quick, heavy hands, Calzaghe threw punches in bunches and caught Lacy boring in with a right uppercut. Shades of Holyfield/Tyson splattered my TV screen as Calzaghe continually flurried and then tied up Lacy as he came in to land his bombs. Round two saw more of the same as Lacy became more of a headhunter content to throw one punch at a time. Much the way Bernard Hopkins took Felix ‘Tito’ Trinidad to school back in 2001, the Welsh underdog manhandled, hit in the clinches, and beat Lacy to the punch. Round four saw the fight take a dramatic turn as Lacy, nose bloodied, was cut over his right eye from a butt.
The carnage continued thru the 7th as Lacy was trapped in the corner by a surging Calzaghe. On the verge of being dropped or stopped, Lacy fought off his attacker for long enough to hear the bell to ring. The beating continued down the stretch as Lacy tried to rally but was turned away every time by Calzaghe. A point taken from Calzaghe in the eleventh took away any chance of a shutout but Calzaghe showed a champion’s heart as he ignored his corner’s advice and tried his best to close the show in the twelfth, a round that was a mere formality as Lacy showed few signs of being able to mount anything resembling an attack. Lacy had his first professional knockdown in the final stanza although it was more from a push combined with a grazing than a legitimate punch. At the conclusion the three judges had Calzaghe winning every round by scores of 119-105 and 119-107 twice.
“Lacy is a true warrior and showed a lot of heart,” Calzaghe continued. “He was a gentleman throughout the entire promotion and I give him credit. I really thought I had him a few times, but he hung in there like a champion.”
Lacy, 21-1 (17), was philosophical about the loss.
“Sometimes you have to lose to gain,” said Lacy in his post-fight interview with Showtime’s Jim Gray. “This is a learning experience for me. I will have to work on my boxing style now. I did not think Calzaghe could handle my pressure, but he did. I take my hat off to him.”
Lacy’s trainer Dan Birmingham added: “Calzaghe put on a clinic. He showed that he is a master of distance and timing. I have been studying his tapes for a year. I knew he had speed and that this was going to be a tough fight for us.”
With this victory, Calzaghe’s legacy is secure and Lacy’s future is now uncertain. At 28, it is hard to believe a huge style makeover is possible. Certainly a rebuilding strategy is in order. With Calzaghe talking about a possible move to light heavyweight for a showdown with Antonio Tarver, it is conceivable that Lacy can rule the division that the love affair with his own power has soured. For Calzaghe, while time is running out at age 33, the sky is the limit in terms of matchups. Perhaps we get the way past its prime showdown with Roy Jones, Jr., or a unification tourney with Mikkel Kessler and Markus Beyer. Whatever the case, I know one writer that won’t be so quick to follow his heart and count out the Welsh Warrior.
HEAD WINS OVER HEART
I recently came across a letter from Jeff in Atlanta on MaxBoxing that brought up a viewpoint that no one had touched on and it got me to thinking. Coming into the Hopkins/Trinidad match of 2001, Hopkins had a long series of defense but not the respect that should go along with it. A 3-1 underdog, the Champion was looking for validation of his long reign and he got it in a savage beating over one the game’s biggest punchers. This Saturday we saw a similar matchup in the long awaited Joe Calzaghe/Jeff Lacy matchup. Calzaghe had defended his belts 17 times and was considered the Man at 168. Lacy was a fledgling titlist who was looking for a big name scalp to legitimize his status as not only the fastest rising star in boxing but it‘s most dangerous. At 33 years old, Calzaghe was nearly a 2-1 underdog coming into this weekend’s scrap which is rare when you are defending your title for the 17th time on your home soil. While Calzaghe is not the technician that Hopkins is, he was being seriously underestimated. Calzaghe showed all the ring savvy and punching power to give Lacy, who was an unrefined treasure at this junctur, a serious lesson in what it means to fight at a championship level. My heart said Lacy but my head quickly told it to shut up once and for all as the fight progressed and Jeff from Atlanta’s take slowly came to fruition.
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