Quote Originally Posted by littlerock View Post
It won't be a cakewalk for Taylor but it shouldn't be rocket science for him either. He has the tools to beat Lacy easily if he stays on his game.

Lacy might as well be 0-4 in his last 4 fights as he's lost one to Calzaghe, and barely eeked by the likes of Tsypko, Manfredo, and Mendoza. Even though he was finally throwing punches in his last fight, he still boxed for shit. Does he know what a jab is? If not he'll learn quickly as Taylor's jab will be in his face all night. Lacy bowls forward swinging widely with his chin out in the open - not a good defensive tactic against someone with a strong, quick jab like Taylor's.

I agree that Taylor has not beaten anyone impressively in quite a while, but his most impressive win was probably against Ouma, who is similar to Lacy in that he is a wide-open offensive fighter. Taylor hit him with everything but the kitchen sink in that fight. Yes, he took some shots himself but only because he had no respect for Ouma's power at 160 (or lack thereof). We will definitely see Taylor landing similarly on Lacy, and after his 2-3 near knockdowns in the Mendoza fight, I'm not convinced Lacy will be standing at the end of the fight. Taylor almost had Pavlik out in the 2nd round of their first fight, and Pavlik's defense is miles ahead of Lacy's, and his chin is as good if not better.

Lacy's only hope in this fight is jumping on Taylor early, hoping to overwhelm him for the surprise KO, or hanging in until the championship rounds and swinging for the fences, banking on Taylor's stamina issues.

Taylor's stamina may improve in this fight, seeing as how he's cutting less weight and won't be as dehydrated for the weigh-in.

As for him putting on quality muscle instead of just not conditioning himself down to 160, most of what he was cutting to get down to 160 WAS muscle. This is a big, athletic mofo. He'll be just as physically impressive at 168 as Jeff Lacy is, with better boxing skills to boot.
Jeff has to stop winding up and start working behind the jab, he has a sweet right that works well for him when he throws the jab. Also Jeff was known for liking it messy on the inside when he WAS a good in-fighter, now he has gotten lazy in close and gets outworked. I really dont know if he is physically shot or just trying to get it all back together after the Calzaghe fight and the serious injury coupled with ring rust.

Jermain seems to be the smoother of the 2 at this point but might have confidence issues.. Taylor too has abandoned his money punch that got him to the dance, THE JAB!!! If Taylor dosent get lured into a brawl he can pick apart this version of Lacy. On the other hand if Jeff can work a little harder on the inside and put his punches together, he can catch Jermain and stop him.. If its a close fight down the stretch I see Jeff gutting it out and putting it all on the line to nip a desicion