Did the Calzaghe fight ruin Jeff Lacy?

[Markusdarkus]

This can be said about many fighters.

You could ask did Pavlik ruin Miranda or Zertuche? They were not the same after running into him.

Physical beatings you can recover from, but certain mindsets will never recover from a bad loss. It will always be on the back of their mind. When a fighter is undefeated, they feel invulnerable. Fighters can handle points losses usually fine. KO losses or beatings shows a fighter how human they are and they can lose their fire that helped elevate them in the first place.

Joe took away Lacy's fire. The mystique he once had for himself was gone and he knew he had limitations. His injury took more away from him, so he has fallen quite far.

Neither Miranda or Zertuche took the hammering Lacy took. There is a marked difference pre and post Calzaghe, Miranda looks the same and would lose to Abrahams Pavlik defeat or not. Im not sure Manfredo would take Lacy to a SD pre Calzaghe, do you?

Well Miranda was beaten from ringpost to ringpost for 7 rounds. He absorbed huge punishment from a good puncher. Zertuche also absorbed big punches on a consistent basis for even longer. Miranda could take Abraham's shots in the first fight, he could not in the second one. Zertuche was totally shot after Pavlik and could not even be competative against a much lesser opponent than Pavlik after Pavlik dealt with him.

Maybe it is just me, but I would rather have Joe tee off on me for 12 rounds, than have Pavlik tee off on me for 7.

I also agree however, that Joe took something away from Lacy that fight. Lacy had a very rough go of it that fight.

You cannot seriously be saying that Miranda took more punishment in the Pavlik fight than Lacy did vs Calzaghe!

Calzaghe has far faster hands far better footwork and doesnt hit as hard so you are getting punched to the brink but not quite done then next round same thing. Pavlik at 160lbs beats you up the its over its not prolonged plus fighter will always feel they have a chance against such a limited plodder so they gain confidence. Lacy was beat every second of every round.