Wow!!! That was Jeff Lacey:think Looking at that first fight, it looks like any good habits he may have had were trained right out of him. There he shows some nice combinations, good jab, punch variety, decent hand speed, nice foot movement. Just goes to show, picking the right trainer can make or break a career in the pro-game. Also, he was carrying far less muscle-mass than the Jeff Lacy that fought Calzaghe. The reverse would be Lennox Lewis.....
Very impressive debut. Its a shame his boxing skills seem to go backwards during his career. I don't know whether it was his trainers or he fell in love with his own power or what but he obviously hadn't developed as he could. Still - I don't see the speed and sharpness there for him ever to be elite.
Exactly !! This is the Jeff that setup punches using his jab and combinations , but the Jeff he Developed into is a fighter looking for a KO with every punch under tutelage of Dan ..
Lacy's career will always be remembered by that Calzaghe fight. Sure he knocked seven bells out of Robin Reid and looked impressive doing it but I can't see a prime Reid being bullied like that. In hindsight, Reid got very old during that fight and the truth is that he didn't fancy the job after being tagged by Lacy's trademark power shots. That Reid fight worked absolutely to Calzaghe's advantage. Calzaghe had previously boxed Reid and struggled. Calzaghe never hurt Reid like Lacy did. Joe was absolutely on edge for their encounter because he knew what could potentially happen if he wasn't. The other thing that happened was that Lacy believed that he could KO everyone. Gary Shaw and Dan Birmingham told him this so many times that he believed it. Unfortunately for Team Lacy, they bargained that Joe Calzaghe was a fighter in decline after being put on his ass a couple of times before the Lacy bout. Lacy has said himself that he expected to waltz in, destroy Calzaghe and catch a plane back home after a short night's work. We all know what happened next. If Lacy had been in the right place mentally and had a gameplan of fighting a prime Calzaghe, then it may not have been so one sided. But to beat that form of Calzaghe then you have to have the mental capacity to work him out in the ring. Something, clearly, Lacy lacked in abundance. To be elite, power and boxing ability helps - but if things go wrong in the ring and you don't react, you're never going to beat the top guys. In hindsight, Lacy just hasn't got that all round game to get near the Calzaghe's of this world - and probably never had. Not in 2004, 2005 or now. As others have testified, (some form of) Vanderpool and Sheika were technically better than Lacy when they fought and the casual boxing fan has probably never even heard of those guys.
The US will never forgive one of it's own losing to a British fighter. This bull**** is pathetic. I'll bet you were one of the many US fans saying that Lacy was the new Tyson. Grow up.
He looked like an absolute killer before Calzaghe. Most felt he'd beat his ass. We were all very, very wrong.
In Europe Joe was the favorite (albeit slight). When you say 'we all' you must remember that it was 'we Americans'. Lacy was good, he is good - Calzaghe was just underrated. These days Lacy is underrated (whereas he was overrate before Calzaghe fight). Trinidad was good . he still got a beating from Hopkins - these things happen.
I will read the rest of this thread later, but Calzaghe exposed him. He wasnt even competetive in that fight. Not even close - he lost every damn round. He didnt know how to adapt and change his gameplan....a good but 1 dimensional fighter. His KO power and pressure going forward style made people think he was the Tyson of the SM division. He really wasnt. Still I wish him luck and hope he gets it together and gets a few good wins under his belt. I think mentally JC destroyed him...damaged goods now IMO.