Showtime Championship Boxing Preview: Jeff Lacy – Scott Pemberton

Check Out This Great Fight on Showtime This Saturday Starting at 9PM!

Jeff "Left Hook" Lacy puts his IBF Super Middleweight strap on the line this Saturday night when he takes on rugged contender Scott Pemberton at Caesars Tahoe in Stateline, Nevada. Be sure not to blink. Lacy has swept all before him as a professional, and he certainly lives up to his nickname – only four of

Click for larger image © Tom Casino/Showtime

his twenty professional opponents have heard the final bell. He is coming off a very impressive performance against England’s Robin Reid in August, when he scored an eighth round TKO. It was the first time Reid had been stopped as a pro. This, combined with his solid decision victory over perennial contender Omar Shieka in December last year and his sensational title winning effort against the tough Syd Vanderpool make "Left Hook" a warm favourite heading into Saturday’s fight.

But it would be a brave man to completely discount the chances of Scott "Sandman" Pemberton. Hailing from New Bedford in Massachusets, Pemberton also boasts a victory over Shieka – two of them in fact. He scored a
controversial split decision in July 2003 but left no doubts as to who the better man was in January 2004 when he pounded out a tenth round technical knockout.

"Sandman" is riding the crest of a five fight winning streak, all but one of them by knockout, and is in no hurry to see it stop. He too carries TNT in both gloves, with 24 KO’s in his 29 victories. One thing can be counted on –
Pemberton will be hungry, maybe more so than anyone Lacy has ever encountered in the paid ranks. You see,
after eleven years as a professional prizefighter, the highest purse he has ever collected is $35,000.

Pemberton fights not for belts, but to keep a roof over his family’s head. Throughout his career he has been forced to take various kinds of manual labour jobs to supplement his income and keep the wolves from the door. As the man himself says “I HAVE to win this fight.”

These are problems Lacy has never known. An Olympian in Sydney five years ago, he has been groomed for the big time since he started his pro career in 2001, and has collected some sizable chunks of change along the way. Likeable and unassuming, "Left Hook" was left bitterly disappointed when Welshman Joe Calzaghe pulled out of their December superfight after sustaining a hand injury in an unnecessary tune up. He hopes to take out
his frustrations on Scott Pemberton come November 5. Or will Calzaghe’s injury mean that lady luck is looking out for Scott Pemberton for a change? Wasn’t it a hand injury to a higher ranked opponent that got Rocky his shot at Apollo? Just checking…

And remember, if two kids are fighting over ten bucks in the street, my money goes on the hungriest one
every time.