Did the Calzaghe fight ruin Jeff Lacy?

[donnydarkoIRL]

I voted no. Lacy had one great performance against Reid where he used more than just power and showed something special. It was a performance that I liken to Buster Douglas vs. Mike Tyson. To be a great boxer you need more than one big win. Reid was very old by the time Lacy fought him as well.

There was something special about Lacy though.
He was an Olympian, no mtter who you are thats a huge achievement.
He did scythe through each opponent in his early career, regardless of quality.

I just feel up until Round 1 of the Calzaghe fight he looked like a young man with tremendous faith in his own physical ability. A fighter can develop the skills from there.

But the Calzaghe defeat was so devastating he has the mentality of a first timer each time he enters the ring now.

[killersheep]

I voted no. Lacy had one great performance against Reid where he used more than just power and showed something special. It was a performance that I liken to Buster Douglas vs. Mike Tyson. To be a great boxer you need more than one big win. Reid was very old by the time Lacy fought him as well.

There was something special about Lacy though.
He was an Olympian, no mtter who you are thats a huge achievement.
He did scythe through each opponent in his early career, regardless of quality.

I just feel up until Round 1 of the Calzaghe fight he looked like a young man with tremendous faith in his own physical ability. A fighter can develop the skills from there.

But the Calzaghe defeat was so devastating he has the mentality of a first timer each time he enters the ring now.

Duck to the right, weave left then left hook. One-trick pony. It's easy to get carried away when someone has power. And I am happy about his amateur career, being an olympian is an amazing feat, but like I said aside from the Reid fight I guess I just never saw anything special about him.

[donnydarkoIRL]

I voted no. Lacy had one great performance against Reid where he used more than just power and showed something special. It was a performance that I liken to Buster Douglas vs. Mike Tyson. To be a great boxer you need more than one big win. Reid was very old by the time Lacy fought him as well.

There was something special about Lacy though.
He was an Olympian, no mtter who you are thats a huge achievement.
He did scythe through each opponent in his early career, regardless of quality.

I just feel up until Round 1 of the Calzaghe fight he looked like a young man with tremendous faith in his own physical ability. A fighter can develop the skills from there.

But the Calzaghe defeat was so devastating he has the mentality of a first timer each time he enters the ring now.

Duck to the right, weave left then left hook. One-trick pony. It's easy to get carried away when someone has power. And I am happy about his amateur career, being an olympian is an amazing feat, but like I said aside from the Reid fight I guess I just never saw anything special about him.

That is true.

Some fighters have the natural ability to get away with being
one-dimensional.
Subsequently, a weak level of opposition can allow the fighter to domiante without being exposed.

I guess Calzaghe was that much better he exposed every flaw Jeff had.

I feel that at the moment there are a number of fighters in the division that could have performed similar revelations, but it still doesn't account for his shortcomings vs. Manfredo and Espianoza

[Markusdarkus]

Remember the build up it was hard to find anyone picking Calzaghe, Jeff was a wrecking ball. After Calzaghe everyone said i knew a good boxer would beat him he was always a limited bum.

Trying to discredit my Joe, i wont have it ya hear

Very few people on here had Calzaghe down to beat Lacy, funnily enough they all 'knew' how crap Lacy was after that fight and always 'knew' he was limited and a rookie. Didn't hear much of that before the fight

Ive been through a few threads in 2005/6 and people posting in this thread right here had Lacy down as a demigod and had him obliterating Calzaghe.

I wont bump but yes before the fight everyone had Lacy after the fight hes a bum.

I will add up until Calzaghe, Lacy was a real good exciting fighter with power that made Pavlik look feather fisted.

[RP33]

Remember the build up it was hard to find anyone picking Calzaghe, Jeff was a wrecking ball. After Calzaghe everyone said i knew a good boxer would beat him he was always a limited bum.

Trying to discredit my Joe, i wont have it ya hear

Very few people on here had Calzaghe down to beat Lacy, funnily enough they all 'knew' how crap Lacy was after that fight and always 'knew' he was limited and a rookie. Didn't hear much of that before the fight

Ive been through a few threads in 2005/6 and people posting in this thread right here had Lacy down as a demigod and had him obliterating Calzaghe.

I wont bump but yes before the fight everyone had Lacy after the fight hes a bum.

I will add up until Calzaghe, Lacy was a real good exciting fighter with power that made Pavlik look feather fisted.

This is not the point though.. who cares who had who before the fight.. the question is did the Calzaghe fight ruin Lacy..

i think it's always a rude awakening when a confident undefeated fighter finally loses.. You will always know that you actually CAN lose now.. but Lacy has a lot of heart and will avoid no one, so that has to say something aobut his mental state..

i think that the shoulder injury ruined him more than Calzaghe did.. but as far as the question if Calzaghe ruined Lacy, i'd say yes and no.. more importantly he was EXPOSED.. He's still a big puncher who can take a lot of punishment, and that's what he was before also, people just are'nt as intimidated by him becuase they see what happened to him and gain confidence..

if i was fighting someone who looked like Lacy, and knew he was undefeated i'd already be quite intimidated.. but if i knew that some skinny white guy SLAPPED the hell out of him and beat him to a pulp, then i'd have QUITE a bit more confidence going into the fight..

[killersheep]

There was something special about Lacy though.
He was an Olympian, no mtter who you are thats a huge achievement.
He did scythe through each opponent in his early career, regardless of quality.

I just feel up until Round 1 of the Calzaghe fight he looked like a young man with tremendous faith in his own physical ability. A fighter can develop the skills from there.

But the Calzaghe defeat was so devastating he has the mentality of a first timer each time he enters the ring now.

Duck to the right, weave left then left hook. One-trick pony. It's easy to get carried away when someone has power. And I am happy about his amateur career, being an olympian is an amazing feat, but like I said aside from the Reid fight I guess I just never saw anything special about him.

That is true.

Some fighters have the natural ability to get away with being
one-dimensional.
Subsequently, a weak level of opposition can allow the fighter to domiante without being exposed.

I guess Calzaghe was that much better he exposed every flaw Jeff had.

I feel that at the moment there are a number of fighters in the division that could have performed similar revelations, but it still doesn't account for his shortcomings vs. Manfredo and Espianoza

Although I am not a fan of Calzaghe, I give credit where it is due, Joe isn't a champ sheerly because of his blinding speed and great chin right? He is such a dominant champ because he can adapt to any situation, look at his win over Kessler that fight was actually pretty close UNTIL Joe switched it up and went on to control the last 7 rounds pretty comfortably.

[leftylee]

Duck to the right, weave left then left hook. One-trick pony. It's easy to get carried away when someone has power. And I am happy about his amateur career, being an olympian is an amazing feat, but like I said aside from the Reid fight I guess I just never saw anything special about him.

That is true.

Some fighters have the natural ability to get away with being
one-dimensional.
Subsequently, a weak level of opposition can allow the fighter to domiante without being exposed.

I guess Calzaghe was that much better he exposed every flaw Jeff had.

I feel that at the moment there are a number of fighters in the division that could have performed similar revelations, but it still doesn't account for his shortcomings vs. Manfredo and Espianoza

Although I am not a fan of Calzaghe, I give credit where it is due, Joe isn't a champ sheerly because of his blinding speed and great chin right? He is such a dominant champ because he can adapt to any situation, look at his win over Kessler that fight was actually pretty close UNTIL Joe switched it up and went on to control the last 7 rounds pretty comfortably.

Like Floyd is a great champ coz he can adapt to any style, I hear ya sheep.

[donnydarkoIRL]

Duck to the right, weave left then left hook. One-trick pony. It's easy to get carried away when someone has power. And I am happy about his amateur career, being an olympian is an amazing feat, but like I said aside from the Reid fight I guess I just never saw anything special about him.

That is true.

Some fighters have the natural ability to get away with being
one-dimensional.
Subsequently, a weak level of opposition can allow the fighter to domiante without being exposed.

I guess Calzaghe was that much better he exposed every flaw Jeff had.

I feel that at the moment there are a number of fighters in the division that could have performed similar revelations, but it still doesn't account for his shortcomings vs. Manfredo and Espianoza

Although I am not a fan of Calzaghe, I give credit where it is due, Joe isn't a champ sheerly because of his blinding speed and great chin right? He is such a dominant champ because he can adapt to any situation, look at his win over Kessler that fight was actually pretty close UNTIL Joe switched it up and went on to control the last 7 rounds pretty comfortably.

Good point that, I'll have to remeber that.

[Kirkland Laing]

Probablt the Calzaghe fight. But if you look at the first round of his next fight he was looking pretty good till he did his shoulder.

I saw his interview on WNF last night and he doesn't look like he believes in himself anymore. Mentally he's lost it.

[Kev]

Absolutley, when that fight finished so did Lacy.
He lost ever bit of mental strength and fortitude that he had built.

He was actually a gutsy fighter, he kept coming after Calzaghe, he never stopped trying, but the loss was a complete and uter domination.

I disagree completely about Lacy losing all his mental strenght and fortidude.


Apart from his physical strength pretty much all Lacy has is his heart and will to win.

I have to say, I'm a big Jeff Lacy fan, in my mind no boxer gives his all more than Jeff Lacy.

To get beat for every minute of every round like he did against Joe Calzaghe but to keep fighting to the very end, to fight with a torn rotator cuff from the second round against Tyspko and pull out a win and to come back from being rocked several times against Mendoza to dig deep and make sure he won the final round and therefore the fight shows the heart and mental strength of a true champion imo.

Lacy is limited technically, and his power was overratted but for heart, determination, dedication to the sport and sheer iron will Lacy is possibly America's best fighter imo.

[Deanrw]

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.

[OumaFan]

Absolutley, when that fight finished so did Lacy.
He lost ever bit of mental strength and fortitude that he had built.

He was actually a gutsy fighter, he kept coming after Calzaghe, he never stopped trying, but the loss was a complete and uter domination.

I disagree completely about Lacy losing all his mental strenght and fortidude.


Apart from his physical strength pretty much all Lacy has is his heart and will to win.

I have to say, I'm a big Jeff Lacy fan, in my mind no boxer gives his all more than Jeff Lacy.

To get beat for every minute of every round like he did against Joe Calzaghe but to keep fighting to the very end, to fight with a torn rotator cuff from the second round against Tyspko and pull out a win and to come back from being rocked several times against Mendoza to dig deep and make sure he won the final round and therefore the fight shows the heart and mental strength of a true champion imo.

Lacy is limited technically, and his power was overratted but for heart, determination, dedication to the sport and sheer iron will Lacy is possibly America's best fighter imo.

This is a good post in all seriousness, totally agree. If anything last night I was impressed by the guts of Lacy. Mendoza can complain all he wants but when it counted Lacy wanted it more. He won the fight on pure guts.

With Lacy its just another case of fans falling in love with a puncher but like you say his power has always been overrated too. He's more of a clubbing type puncher, he never got guys out early or with one big punch.

And the technical flaws defensively are really the problem. Outside he's obviously not comfortable and inside (you can see this big time as far back as even the Rubin Williams fight) he doesn't keep his hands up well enough, he keeps the left too low which is ok I guess on the outside but not the inside when you're not really moving your head.

[Kev]

Wow this must be the first time you've agreed with one of my posts Ouma.

[amat]

Absolutley, when that fight finished so did Lacy.
He lost ever bit of mental strength and fortitude that he had built.

He was actually a gutsy fighter, he kept coming after Calzaghe, he never stopped trying, but the loss was a complete and uter domination.

I disagree completely about Lacy losing all his mental strenght and fortidude.


Apart from his physical strength pretty much all Lacy has is his heart and will to win.

I have to say, I'm a big Jeff Lacy fan, in my mind no boxer gives his all more than Jeff Lacy.

To get beat for every minute of every round like he did against Joe Calzaghe but to keep fighting to the very end, to fight with a torn rotator cuff from the second round against Tyspko and pull out a win and to come back from being rocked several times against Mendoza to dig deep and make sure he won the final round and therefore the fight shows the heart and mental strength of a true champion imo.

Lacy is limited technically, and his power was overratted but for heart, determination, dedication to the sport and sheer iron will Lacy is possibly America's best fighter imo.

This is a good post in all seriousness, totally agree. If anything last night I was impressed by the guts of Lacy. Mendoza can complain all he wants but when it counted Lacy wanted it more. He won the fight on pure guts.

With Lacy its just another case of fans falling in love with a puncher but like you say his power has always been overrated too. He's more of a clubbing type puncher, he never got guys out early or with one big punch.

And the technical flaws defensively are really the problem. Outside he's obviously not comfortable and inside (you can see this big time as far back as even the Rubin Williams fight) he doesn't keep his hands up well enough, he keeps the left too low which is ok I guess on the outside but not the inside when you're not really moving your head.

Agreed completely. I think at one point he was a lot better technically as far as being an offensive fighter then he is now but everything about this is right. Obviously I want to stay away from this topic as he's my favorite fighter, but you're right, in a way it was a great performance by Lacy. Obviously it's pretty safe say his days as a champion are done I would think unless he can simply outlast a better boxer.

[OumaFan]

Its not the first time I've agreed with you Bilbo especially the times when you aren't saying absolutely silly things. Its just that you said exactly what I was gonna say after reading Donny's post so it had to be acknowledged.