Calzaghe didn't ruin Lacy. He got severely injured in the Tsypko fight and he hasn't really recovered. Also, he just wasn't as good as most people thought to begin with. Taking Lacy out earlier would have helped nothing. Any damage Joe did to Lacy in that fight was purely mental and emotional, and it would have been just as embarrassing had he quit on his stool. It's not like Lacy is punch drunk or something, he's just not as aggressive as he used to be anymore, and I still think that has more to do with tearing his rotator cuff than it has to do with Calzaghe.
I truly never brought into the lacy hype just like i'm not buying into the calzaghe hype thats seems to be going on these days
i think the main reason people thought lacy would win was more due to joe gettign hurt and knocked down in a few fights previous and looked to be ending his career on a final pay day. also he was fighting an aggresive, young fighter with a punch....it wasnt that lacy was so good but that he was of good enough standard to take out an aging champion. it wasnt that most people were convinced by lacy's technique or boxing skills. As someone said before purists didnt belive he was that good. but he was good enough to knock out a iron chinned reid who had given calzaghe a tough tough contest (fighter x beats fighter y thus fighter y...etc etc ). lacy had the tools to knock calzaghe out becuase it was the seeming rapid decline of calzaghes career. then we foudn out he only got better in a way.
you were doing so well until ou turned into just another calzaghe-basher. you've chose to completely ignore the flawless performance and the fact that it was exactly the american public who hyped lacy.
I said after that fight Lacy would never be the same, Lacy was never great but he was a good pressure fighter who was beating top10 contenders now hes done BTW the majority of ESB picked Lacy to expose Calazage, including those saying 'Lacy was nothing we new he'd lose'. I picked Calazage myself but was suprised at the 1 natured schooling and battering
I tend to agree that those last three/four rounds exerted a devastating toll on Lacy. I'll never forgive Birmingham for not throwing in the towel. Lacy had no chance to win, and avoiding that final stage of punishment might have salvaged his career. But it's tough to know. He did look better against Tsypko prior to the shoulder injury. Now, though, it's his defense that has me believing that he's physically shot in addition to being traumatized. He doesn't seem to process the incoming as well as he used to. He never was a great defensive fighter, but he was OK. Now, he's an open book because his reactions always appear to be a bit late. Even if he couldn't punch as well, I think the non-shot version of Lacy wouldn't have been tagged repeatedly as he was against a C-fighter like Mendoza. I can see the other side of the argument too, though.