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Considering all the controversy surrounding the Hopkins-Taylor horror, here is a message to all my boxing fans all over the world: “we have to move on!” What’s done is done and it’s in the past. There isn’t anything you and I could do to change the outcome. So as we fast forward into the future, we see that tonight’s action takes us to the always peaceful and relaxing Tampa Bay, Florida. In a twelve round bout between Tampa’s own Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy who will be making his professional debut in front of his hometown fans as well as making his third defense of his IBF super middleweight title. Lacy will be fighting for the fourth time in the past ten months. Each time he fights, he steps it up a notch in level of competition. Tonight is no different; he is facing the unknown Englishman Robin Reid. Although unknown to most here in America, Reid’s track-record speaks for itself. He sports a record of 38-4-1 with 27 KOs and is the current IBO super middleweight champion. Tonight will mark his second defense of his title. Of Reid’s four losses, one of them came to the current WBO super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe. He lost a controversial split decision to arguably the hardest puncher in the division.
That tells me a few things about Reid. One, he has a pretty-solid chin. All of his losses came by way of decision; Reid has never been knocked out, in fact, he has never even touched the canvas. Two, he is tough and very strong. Lacy and Calzaghe have similar styles; they like to overpower their opponents with sheer strength. It didn’t work for Calzaghe, I’ll be shocked if it works for Lacy. And three, which is the most important to me, he has good defense.
As for Jeff Lacy, who now stands at 19-0 with 15 KOs, it seems that his trainer Dan Birmingham and his promoter Gary Shaw have taken the Miguel Cotto approach with his career. What I mean by that is that they are taking on fights that are possible to win but at the same time gain a lot of experience. Which is a lot better than taking on a fight that he can’t win such as a Hopkins, a Taylor or a Tarver loss and in return, gain a little experience. Can Jeff Lacy win tonight? Yes, but will he is the question that needs to be addressed.
Let’s analyze all of the components that are factored into the equation. This is his first fight at home. In some cases it works, just ask “The Hitman” Ricky Hatton. In most cases it doesn’t. You can ask Cory Spinks, Jose Antonio Rivera and Arturo Gatti. Fighting on your home turf is not always the smartest thing to do. There is always the potential for distractions, such as the friend or relatives of the fighter calling him up for tickets. That’s one example, another would be the pressure you just put on yourself to give a valiant effort, forget about a stellar performance. And last but not least, let’s put an end to this myth that the crowd is on their side. That may be true, but as you say in the case of Cory Spinks, Jose Antonio Rivera and Arturo Gatti, there was all but so much that the crowd could do. If the crowd could fight for them, then I would say you have a valid point, but they cannot so the home court advantage issue goes out the window.
Another possible distraction for Lacy could be that he has Joe Calzaghe in his review mirror. The winner of this bout would fight Joe Calzaghe in a unification bout later on this year. For the past year all you ever heard out of Lacy’s mouth was, “I want you Calzaghe,” or, “I am coming after you Joe.” Now that the time has arrived and he is on the big stage, he just might choke. No different from when Vivian Harris was claiming to be the best pound-for-pound and calling out Floyd Mayweather. And lastly, Lacy only has twenty fights under his belt. He is still learning; he needs more seasoning.
If you look at his past two fights against Omar Sheika and Rubin Williams, you can see that he is a flat-footed fighter who likes to trade on the inside. At times during the exchanges he has the tendency to swing really wide and in the midst of getting caught up in his offense, he forgets about the importance of defense. In the Sheika fight he was visibly hurt, and in the Williams fight he was he getting “tagged” on his chin throughout most of the fight. His ability to take a punch and his sheer strength to overpower his opponents allowed him to walk with the “W.” What is going to happen when he cannot overpower an opponent? What is going to happen when he cannot knock someone out? I have the premonition that both of those questions will be answered tonight. We shall see.
Boxing is known to be “Theater of the Unexpected.” You can bank on that being correct tonight. Now I may be wrong, but I doubt it. I like Robin Reid by knockout in the later rounds.
Contact Edwin Gonzalez at prpapa427@aol.com
