In front of an M.E.N Arena full of screaming partisan fans, WBO Super Middleweight Champion Joe Calzaghe utterly dominated visitor Jeff Lacy over the course of twelve rounds to annex the American's IBF title to his trophy cabinet. It was a masterful performance from the Welshman as his quicker hands guided razor sharp straight punches inside of Lacy's wider, looping shots time and time again. So complete was Calzaghe's mastery in this fight that the only way he lost a point was when he was penalized for backhanding in the eleventh round. Ringside officials turned in scorecards of 119 - 105 and 119-107 twice. Lacy simply could not hit Calzaghe, who used superior footwork, impressive boxing skill and stinging handspeed to deliver a one sided belting to the man that many were predicting would take the WBO title away from "The Pride Of Wales." Although he did finally hit the canvas in the twelfth frame, Lacy showed enormous heart to keep going despite the punishment that he was absorbing round after round. Surely there is no braver man in the sport. For the victor, finally achieving his goals of gaining an additional world title and defeating the fighter that many considered to be the division's best, Calzaghe will now head up to the light heavyweight class where he hopes to contend for world honors at 175 lbs. Joe Calzaghe remains undefeated at 41-0 (31) while Jeff Lacy suffers his first! defeat and falls to 21-1 (17).
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