In retrospect, did we treat Jeff Lacy too harshly?

After the Joe C. beating he has not been the same. The guy has great talent but Calzaghe took away part of his soul that night.

 

Do you think he was harshly treated tho?

 

Not at all.

The hype he was getting was beyond ridiculous. "Young Tyson" etc. :rofl

 

Yeah, I didn't answer huh? No!

 

Aye :huh

I thought he was poor on Saturday.

 

Calzaghe did not "take away part of his soul", and no, Lacy is not a bum. Like most things in life the answer is not so black or white. Calzaghe is on another level than Lacy, fact. However, Lacy brutally underperformed that night. Fought much worse than he normally does.

Also, in his very next fight, Jeff Lacy tore his rotator cuff on his left shoulder, had to have surgery and accumulated alot of ring rust. Keep in mind that Lacy's best punch was the left hook, but after tearing his rotator cuff, his left hook will never be the same.

I thought he did well against Manfredo in their last bout which was basically a tuneup to shake off the ring rust. He will probably look much better in his fight on the Mosley-Judah undercard.

 

Lacy was an American hype job, he had a bodybuilder look and stupid typical American's were riding his balls, Cali beat the living hell out of him and put his grill thru a meatgrinder, i loved every minute of that fight, im glad it didn;t get stopped i wanted Lacy to suffer..

 

he was kinda hyped up to be something he really couldnt live up to when he finally met jc, and the way he was torn apart that night must have done some real harm to his selfasteem.
funny how andrade took his beating in a hole difrent way when kessler
used him as a punshingback. he didnt really seemed so affected in his
following fights. but ok he wasnt hyped up before the fight and was
admired for his iron jaw afterwards so its not quite the same i guess.

 

I concur....Lacy's skills were unbelievably bad to be in with a left handed, master boxer..... and BHop was unbelievably old to be in with a left handed, master boxer.

 

I'm with folks in this thread who show some respect for Lacy. So he's not a supernatural, that doesn't make him rubbish.

 

i say no, we were not too harsh at all. i may have taken bad all the bad things had lacy come back with some decent performances. but the way i see it, he has looked horrible ever since.

 

Problem is Lacy got built up into something he wasnt and everyone was so shocked and disapointed when it all come crumbling down.

I was starting to buy into the hype of Lacy early on but after the Grant fight I could see flaws, and over time those flaws didnt improve. But that didnt stop me cheering for Lacy and hoping he would continue ripping through his opponants. I did really cringe however when a suprising amount of people were putting such high hopes in this guy, HOF, p4p even before he was a titlist.

That being said he was one of my favourite fighters back then and he still is. He is an exciting fighter, and great fun to watch.
People are so fickle and overemotional sometimes, but this will not change. People are always looking for the next SRR and if a fighter doesnt turn out like they had hoped they are the next Eric Crumble in their eyes, is a bit sad.

I dont know if Jeff will ever come back to his former glory but I think this has more to do with his very serious injury than the loss to Joe.

 

edit

 

I hate to revisit this topic. I haven't been so emotionally invested in a bout since then, and thankfully so. That one was brutal to sit through.

There are few things to consider here:

1) Lacy was overrated: I did it and so did many others. My prediction was that he was a 60/40 favorite over Calzaghe and that he was likely to win via stoppage. It was obvious he had technical flaws, but my guess was Joe would be lured into a brawl and then get stopped. Wrong!

2) Lacy performed horribly: As much as Jeff was overhyped, he still was capable of much better than he showed that night. He wasn't even punching hard. I've forced myself now to watch it a couple more times, and you see that all of his shots are pushes, lunges, swimming hooks without any real snap. He could have landed 100 flush shots and not dented Calzaghe.

3) Lacy is damaged goods: I've always been a fan and remain one, but anxiety is the emotion now when he fights, rather than excitement. I wish he would retire.

4) Lacy was ****ed by his corner: This was a classic case of a corner not doing its primary job -- protecting the fighter. There was no reason to allow Lacy to take that sort of beating. Around the 9th or 10th was the right time, and who knows how things might have been different if the plug had been pulled then. He suffered a violent beating over the final 9-12 minutes.

It's sad, because Lacy was a tough guy who dominated good competition and never ducked anyone. He also represented the sport well and seemed legitimately interested in legacy. He also showed first-class heart in taking that kind of beating.

Even at the very end, he was trying to throw his best punches at Calzaghe to change the fight. All respect to Jeff.

 

Lacy was an awesome punching machine, very strong, but Calzaghe was very underrated. When Lacy lost to Calzaghe everyone cut him down. Not bad fight by Lacy, Lacy was just outclassed.