Follow the money - the truth behind Lacy's retirement

ahh, good points. i am not anti capitalist, just saying how exploitation and the sheer cut throatness of the industry might have influenced his decision to retire.

 

Could it be that Lacy read some news about a small 135 lbs. boxer being offered $10 million dollars just for one single fight?

Lacy thinking "They can offer that small guy $10M and not even a million on me?"

 

Maybe the real reason isn't the money. As you point out, he struggled in his last fight. But, if he signed, can he just walk away and say I retire and not have to buy his way out of a signed contract?

 

I'll fight Taylor for $550k

 

when he becomes bankrupt ala latrell sprewell, he'll make a comeback and no one would care

 

But in a way it was a career ending beatdown. Jeff got totally destroyed in all aspects in that fight besides being knocked out. And being beaten for 12 rounds like that can be worse for the fighter than getting knocked out. Nobody has taken him seriously since that fight. And his skill has rapidly diminished too, although that could be from the fight right after Calzaghe.



Unfortunately it looks like Jeff Lacy is this generation's Davey Moore.

 

That's also true, but Lacy is in no position to bargain at the moment. He's looked terrible against his last two opponents who have been no names (I know Manfredo is popular from the contender but you know what I mean).
JT should get a lot more because while he did lose his last two fights, they were against Pavlik who is a champion and JT looked a lot better then Lacy.
Lets face it, JT can regroup and still have a good future while Lacy's best days are behind him. One thing is for certain though, 550k is better then 0

 

Recent performance isn't as important as what the total purse will be- look no further than Jones vs Trinidad for proof of that. It's impossible to know this given the info we have right now, but I know one thing: Lacy being an ex titleholder is going to be a selling point. The same for Taylor- it's going to be one of these "2 ex champions, fighting for one more big shot" kind of promotions. The split should not represent dominant champion vs unknown contender kind of proportions.

It's not a case of Pavlik vs Lockett, so why should the split be a 90/10 like that one was (Kelly made 2.5 million, Gary made 250,000)? Taylor being in the bigger fights recently should get him the lions' share- that I'm not arguing- but Jeff may have a legitimate gripe here.

 

I'm not necessarily sure its about the money. Thats probably more of an excuse as he knows he his career is in a sharp downward spiral, and JT would probably brutalise him.

 

I think anywhere from 30-40% would be a fair enough cut if I were in Jeff's shoes- but it never hurts to posture for whatever you can get, particularly if you don't have many fights left, which it looks like he's doing.