Was Jeff Lacy a fake or did Calzaghe ruin him?

[rjj tszyu]

simple question! Whats your view?

[SaltyBacon]

he was way overhyped he probaly listen to his people's and felt indestructable till he got defeated he has never been the same savage jeff lacy so i say calzaghe out of the choices

but imo he was just overhyped and he also had injuries

[rjj tszyu]

I went Calzaghe ruined him. He looked awesome against Reid (who was shite yes I know) but got trounced off Calzaghe and nearly even got beaten off Manfredo!

[X]

Neither ....... I think Lacy was a powerful, intimidating go-ahead fighter who put people under pressure and had good finishing power. With the benefit of hindsight, he couldn't fight effectively going backwards (he liked to get into a rhythmn and keep that same rhythmn going). He was made to be countered, and because he didn't throw good combinations, a fighter who moved him around, had good handspeed, and could get off first was always going to push him hard.

We seem very quick to put boxers into huge categories .... 'all time great', 'fraud' etc etc.

Styles make fights ...... the whole point of boxing is it's intangibles ...... Ali losing to Frazier, Foreman wroecking Frazier, Ali kayoing Foreman. There are no logical equations in boxing !!

[Kel]

Joe broke him.

[Hunter]

A little of both, even when Lacy was coming up and fighting second class fighters, if Jeff was faced with someone with fast hands that threw in combination he froze up and would take shots.....It was a matter of time when he faced someone with fast hands, that had some pop, and threw in combination at a world class level like Joe or even a Taylor.....

[Taeth]

He was a fake, I loved his amateur background, his athletic ability, but he winged shots, he didn't use his speed, and he could get bullied around even before Calzaghe ever showed up. He had way too many flaws to deal with the top level of the sport.

Man, I hope Berto isn't him all over again.

[littlebif]

He was over-rated and 1 dimensional.Calzaghe did ruin his confidence after the beating he gave him,and with the injury he got he was never going to be the same Lacy that looked indestructable.

Plus his promoter did a good job at getting him fighters at the right time in there careers.

[blegit]

He was over-rated and 1 dimensional.Calzaghe did ruin his confidence after the beating he gave him,and with the injury he got he was never going to be the same Lacy that looked indestructable.

Plus his promoter did a good job at getting him fighters at the right time in there careers.

Hellava post. I agree with it all. Lacy was a bit of both. He wasn't an all out fraud but he wasn't what he was made out to be. The guy just can not box. Like Taeth said, Lacy wings his shots and he takes his share of shots in the process. It was a matter of time before the real book on him blew open. And Calzaghe didn't ruin him exactly but he may as well have because what Lacy did have was oozing confidence and Calzaghe broke that. Lacy bought into his own hype and found out in a crash that he has no plan B, can not box, and he takes a lot of shots so he must win by stoppage otherwise he better pack a lunch. I remember when Lacy was calling out B-Hop before Hopkins-Taylor 1 and I knew that would be disastrous on his career because he was really the only one who didn't know he couldn't box a lick and he would have hell to pay with a tactical boxer.

[Dean Duke]

He was a over rated and Joe put on a master class, if he was even A grade you would of thought he would of won a couple of rounds.

[littlebif]

He was a over rated and Joe put on a master class, if he was even A grade you would of thought he would of won a couple of rounds.

If he was an A grade fighter he would of done more than just plod forward throwing the same punches.

[OumaFan]

This is an agenda thread (I don't mean the original poster meant it that way, I don't know), Calzaghe fans are gonna for the most part say he ruined him, anti-Calzaghe people are going to say the opposite.

Its probably somewhere in between like some have said. Lacy had some glaring flaws that got lost a bit because he looked like a killer. If that had been him against Kessler then Mikkel would have probably done a number on him (probably not as bad as he wouldn't have been as busy as Joe), good technical boxers with fast hands, fast feet, good footwork, etc. were always going to give him problems.

[CFH]

Neither ....... I think Lacy was a powerful, intimidating go-ahead fighter who put people under pressure and had good finishing power. With the benefit of hindsight, he couldn't fight effectively going backwards (he liked to get into a rhythmn and keep that same rhythmn going). He was made to be countered, and because he didn't throw good combinations, a fighter who moved him around, had good handspeed, and could get off first was always going to push him hard.

We seem very quick to put boxers into huge categories .... 'all time great', 'fraud' etc etc.

Styles make fights ...... the whole point of boxing is it's intangibles ...... Ali losing to Frazier, Foreman wroecking Frazier, Ali kayoing Foreman. There are no logical equations in boxing !!

This.

[p4pking]

It's somewhat pointless to speculate this imo. Of course the beating Joe laid on him affected his confidence and will always give his opponents more of their own having seen how badly his flaws could be exposed. Having said that he wasn't ruined before he fought Calzaghe(not that he was after neccesarily), and yet he got as one sided a beating as a fighter can take, because he had no ability to deal with Calzaghes pedigree or athletecism, he never did. It's not as if Calzaghe was his kryptonite, he just had the perfect style and attributes to do an unruly number on Jeff. I know that seems contradictory, I just mean it's not as if Joe NEEDED to perform that well or do half of the things he did that night to hand Lacy his ass. Of course it's unlikely anyone else would have given him a beating of the same magnitude, but that's just down to styles and of course Calzaghe being far and away the best supper middle out there at the time. I doubt anyone really feels that with hindsight had he not lost to Calzaghe he would have cleaned out the division or beaten a Kessler or Hopkins, even Taylor at any point.

[Spicoli]

Well,he didn't exactly turn out to be the next "Coming of Evander Holyfield" as the network fanboys called him a couple of times......Now that was just drinking the kool-aid .....and playing the fans for fools.

Lacy was a pretty self explanatory sort,no mysteries really.Good physicality,good appeal,good power but not devastating,over reliance on Left hook,TV friendly style,Bit of a chip on his shoulder,Willing to give and take with solid beard.And Excellent promotion.

Calzaghe did not ruin what was an already flawed fighter.He simply outclassed him at every turn.Lacy if anything had his aura of invulnerability shattered mentally.I think he was as far as he was going to get when it came to skill set.Still he fought tough and stuck with what brought him in some scrappy fights afterwords,recently the Taylor fight and Mendoza give and take brawl.