Jeff has/had a very crowd pleasing style and was a basic all action slugger.He has a sound chin and a decent punch. But how good was Jeff? Thoughts?
one dimensional but with great power&good crowd pleasing style,i like jeff,but hes done, his corner should have pulled him out against joe after the 7th because those last 5 rounds finished him for good.sad.
Since I'm American I'll be the first to tell you I've ALWAYS HATED HIS STYLE.. I'm getting real sick of this "TV FRIENDLY" description because the guys who coin it, generally don't know a got damn thing about boxing and their miseducating the public to what a good boxer is. You can have an aggressive style and still be a smart boxer. See Marvin Hagler and Tommy Hearns along with Aaron Pryor as clear examples. But this notion that you have to be some dumbass slugger like Gatti or namely Lacy is why a lot of these "prospects" get taken to the deep end and drowned. I've always hated Lacy's style because he lacked an ability to box. I thought Omar Sheika beat him and evne Robbin Reid gave him a tough time before he succumbed to the pressure of Lacy. He was average a 7 a best. But the problem when you have that style he has is what you're seeing now. Someone who's confidence is completely shot. He looked atrocious against Manfredo. Has he ever heard of a jab?? It's only a matter of time before he's drowned again by a top caliber guy..
He promised a lot coming into the Calzaghe fight,but was outclassed.I think the defeat left him deflated and he's not looked the same since.......but he's a good fighter who can get back on track.
Good enough for most of us as quite knowledgable boxing folk to think he could beat Joe Calzaghe.. He is probably still one of the best super middleweights today.. No problem with losing to Jo.. Joseph is one of the best i have ever come across in this era.. He is probably going to beat Bernard ... Jeff has a lot of time to come again and still be the man in the short future, he is still very capable of beating half of the division..
Although i agree with your sentiments he DID have a crowd pleasing style. But Lacy was a VERY flawed fighter. Its interesting to note that when he was fighting guys like Syd, Sheika and Rubin on his way up he was getting throughly outboxed in every one.His body of work inside was just non existent and 1 punch at a time as he surveyed his work.His vaunted power to be honest was grossly overrated. Clean KO`s from Jeff were rare. When he stopped Rubin it was only a case of Rubin being overwhelmed on the ropes and refusing to move. He was barely hit with clean and concise shots. Repeatedly you would hear Lacys trainers telling him to move his head and use his jab to work his way inside and every time Lacy would simply walk forward throwing one punch at a time. Sheika commented after there fight that he only threw one punch at a time. I truly believe Lacy believed his own hype and seemed more interested in measuring his punch power at the fair ground or punch power machines. As much as i like Jeff he lacked key fundamentals had NO DEFENSE to speak of and wasnt half as good as the hype that surrounded him. If he`d been brought along correctly may be he`d be more active. But mentally i believe he may be a shot fighter.
no i think it was the shoulder surgery more than the UD loss to Calzaghe that really made him a has-been
A one-dimensional fighter, but many thought he was so good that his talent would be even bigger than his disadvantages. He was supposed to beat Calzaghe in England. I won't lie: I also thought that Lacy would win, as many people did. Some fans even said that Lacy could win a heavyweight title.
Wins over Tsypko, Manfredo, Vanderpool, Sheika, Reid, and Williams...he has a darn good resume, and I'm confident he'll be able to come back part way, because the jaded effort against Manfredo can be attributed to the lay off, and obviously the shoulder injury hampered his effort against Tsypko.
There was nothing Lacy accomplished before he fought Calzaghi that suggested he was a world class fighter, he was fortunate vs an average fighter like Shieka, he beat a Robin Reid who was 6-7 years past his best. Reid had not won a notable fight for sometime. He was marketed on his amazing bodybuilder physique. The fact that Calzaghe stated taht was a career defining fight says alot abou the quality of Calzaghes opposition. Calzaghe was very fortunate he fought in this era.
hes taking a break. he should be back. I ilve in Tampa saw him a few weeks ago at the casino. Looked pretty big. like he gained a few pounds. he has raw power but needs to improve his punching technique plus his shoulder probably not 100%