was jeff lacy overhyped or just outclassed?

A bit of both ..If people had watched the Lacy Sheika fight prior to his bout with Calzaghe they would have saw how bad of a boxer he was .The reason he got hyped so much was because he reminded so many of Tyson ..

 

This...
Lacy looked the part of a killer.
Post shoulder surgery tho, his "left hook" was never as effective.

 

Only by people who know nothing about boxing, he didn't punch like Tyson, did have 1% of the technique, didn't have 1% of Tysons defense. But what the hell he had nice abbs and muscles

Good win, excellent performance none the less

 

The bloke was a spud.

How could he be outclassed, when he never had none?

 

:deal

 

I don't agree with the revisionist history on Lacy. Not everyone saw him an an indestructible monster. I remember there were quite a few fans who saw him as a talented, yet flawed fighter, including myself. I know there were a lot who saw him as Tyson-like, but I moreso saw him as a Holyfield-type fighter. Someone with a great physique and an exciting style, but someone who was vulnerable and would be in plenty of great fights and would also lose some along the way.

In the end I guess both set of fans were wrong since he didn't pan out to be like either fighter and instead was totally ruined by the Calzaghe loss. Still, I like to bring it to the attention of others that not everyone fell completely into the hype. Lacy was flawed in many areas and it was easy to see before he ever lost. The Shieka fight, as mentioned before, is a good exampe of where his inadequacies shown through.

 

I remember watching pre-Calzaghe Lacy and thinking this guy is a gloried can that is just waiting to be exposed. Then the Sheika fight came, and I said this guy might be a good fighter.

I had never seen Calzaghe before the Lacy bout. I waited before I made a judgement on the fight until of the start of the first round. When I saw Joel doing a Pernel Whitaker pivot job on Lacy, I knew that Lacy's truth moment had come.

He did not have a skill answer. He did not have warrior will answer either. All he had was the heart to keep getting up off the stool and taking more beating.

I give him credit for taking wholely one-sided beating and not quitting. It was a flawless masterpiece, by Joel.

Lacy was not a can. Maybe a close contender in the sense of boxing history, not boxing lately.

 

For those of you who don't remember, Calzaghe was also riding a fairly long inactive streak at the same time that Lacy was taking on contender after contender and was knocking most of them out. So the hype surrounding Lacy and a possible win was understandable.

 

There should be a middle option quite similar to option 2 where you dont use the word good twice.

Lacy was a good fighter & seen as a potential danger to Calzaghe but Calzaghe was having none of that **** & put in the performance of his career, turning a good fighter in Lacy into something that resembled a wounded chicken for the remainder of his career.... in other words, he finished him at the top level via masterclass.

 

In between. He wasn't as good as people thought at the time, but he's not as bad as the Calzaghe critics like to portray.

The fan boy **** at the time was unbelievable too - fans going nuts over Lacy's "six pack" and **** like that.

 

No doubt Lacy was overrated, as tends to be every exciting American prospect that comes along as soon as they get a couple good wins under their belt. Calzaghe would've outclassed a lot better fighters than Lacy that night tho. One of the greatest performances ever seen against the odds. It was bloody great to see American so-called boxing experts being made to look like utter fools, with their ridiculous predictions before the fight.

 

It was both. He was overrated, but decent. Calzaghe put on a performance of a lifetime against a fighter who never had a chance to begin with.

 

its bull**** the whole lacey debate. he was a monster who cut through a decent level of opposition. he was a huge favourite for the calzaghe fight. people refusing to give joe credit are utter morons. that is what they are, morons.

pick two fighters today, lets say wlad and chisora. wlad is a huge favourite. if chisora wins he deserves credit. that is the way it works. if you win by upset you have over achieved ergo deserve credit.

as for joe ruining lacey, i dont agree with that, he exposed him as one dimensional, but the ruin came from his shoulder injury, he lost all his power, the fights vs taylor and manfredo should tell you this.

at the time lacey was as good a smw as you could ask for. all this bull**** about him being a hype job is exactly that, bull****.

thats not to say joe beating lacey should put him in the hall of fame, but he was literally the toughest fight joe could have taken.

 

Every single person who has ever seen the Jeff Lacy vs Omar Sheika fight from BEFORE Lacy fought Calzaghe knows that Lacy was an overrated, overhyped mediocrity.

Everyone who hasn't seen that fight thinks he was a "Tyson".