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Joe Calzaghe Not Feeling Right, But Does Right
MON March 6, BUSTER PARIS -
It’s not a good sign to hear that just before the fight Joe Calzaghe tells Showtime’s Jim Gray that he’s not comfortable with the late night fight, that he doesn’t feel “right”.
Not a good sign at all.
Saturday, March 4th 2006 in Manchester England’s M.E.N. Arena the excuse has been established - leaving Calzaghe fans with an empty feeling in the pit of their stomachs.
2:00 am London time and we’re set for the long anticipated fight between two undefeated champions - Joe Calzaghe (40 wins / 0 losses) and Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy (21 wins / 0 losses) – both going after one of the top prizes in boxing – Ring Magazines Super Middleweight belt and crown as well as the IBF and WBO Super Middleweight titles.
Most boxing writers and analyst had this fight all but wrapped up for Lacy. Even TalkingBoxing.com’s fantastic team of writers had it 7 to 3 in favor of Jeff Lacy – and 6 out of those 7 had it by Lacy knocking out Calzaghe.
Just to pat myself on the back for second - I’m now back on the winning side of predictions and picks – my slump is over - I had Calzaghe winning by decision, but I’m sure I wasn’t alone in being nervous upon hearing that Jeff was sparring with Southpaw “Winky” Wright to get ready for this bout. Having one of the top 3 pound per pound fighters in the world as your sparring partner ain’t too shabby – and seeing both men standing center ring – toe to toe - you realize that Jeff looks so much bigger and stronger than Joe…who wasn’t feeling “right” – and it’s at this point in time you could actually hear Calzaghe supporters world over taking a deep breath.
Even though Joe Calzaghe wasn’t feeling right – everything he did in the ring was right. It was a one sided fight the entire night with Calzaghe all over Lacy in the most frustrating way for the younger fighter.
You know when you buy a new CD and try to take off the plastic wrapping and it’s almost impossible to get it off the case – then when you finally do you can’t get it off your fingers and it drives you crazy…that was Jeff Lacy’s experience with Joe Calazaghe – he couldn’t get him off or keep him off.
Each of the 12 rounds were almost completely identical to each other - here are some of the highlights:
Round 1 – the feeling out process was tentative and both fighters were being careful. They would tie up a few times and then Calzaghe would have a nice run at Lacy’s face and head with an assembly of 3 or 4 shot combinations (as he would the entire bout). There was an upper cut thrown by Calzaghe that immediately set the tone and mission for the rest of the night – and it would be that upper cut at that moment that kicked off Calzaghe’s undeniable domination of Jeff Lacy and of the Super Middleweight division.
Round 2 – They would tangle up on the inside and what normally is Jeff’s domain became Joe’s kingdom – the inside game belonged to Calzaghe. Joe would throw and land blistering combinations and that brutal stinging upper cut whenever he wanted to. He would masterfully tie up Jeff and beat him on the inside, then create the perfect distance for his own long range damaging punches.
In between the 2nd and 3rd round Joe has an epiphany of sorts. He realizes that this is his fight. He understands that he has Jeff’s number and repeats two words over and over again to motivate himself and cement this new understanding:
“He’s shit…he’s shit…”
Round 3 – Lacy comes right out at Calzaghe, they tangle up and Joe winds up on the ropes, but he’s the one working the body and he’s the one inflicting damage. It’s becoming clearer that Joe is by far the faster fighter and that Jeff is getting frustrated and can’t find a solution to what’s being presented to him.
It’s an odd sight to see Jeff Lacy taking such a beating, looking so beaten up with blood streaming bright red in two straight paths out of each nostril – and it’s only the 3rd round.
Rounds 4 and 5 are almost mirror images of each other. Lacy starts the rounds off as the aggressor, but walks right into the waiting gloves of Calzaghe. They repeatedly mix it up and then Joe at the right times skillfully holds – which he would do so well the entire night that it would keep Jeff off his game. Lacy looks tired, has his mouth open, but he keeps coming – he keeps moving forward. Calzaghe expertly slashes back at unfamiliar angles and overwhelms Jeff with a blizzard of punches. Lacy’s face is starting to swell and he has cuts by both eyes.
Round 6 starts off at the slowest pace of the night, then after about a minute and 10 seconds Calzaghe let’s fly a barrage of punches all over Lacy. Jeff looks completely beaten up, but does manage to land a nice shot or two. As with earlier rounds whenever Jeff does manage to land a blow Joe answers back with a group reply from more angles than Lacy can deal with.
Rounds 7, 8, 9, and 10 run pretty much the same course. Lacy starts on the attack, but is continually pushing his punches and just when you think there’s an instant that Jeff is going turn it on - Calzaghe takes over and his hand speed and accuracy sets things back to his original arrangement. Lacy shows a lot of heart and keeps moving forward – never giving up, but Joe is just that much better on this night that he makes Lacy look almost amateurish and totally dominated.
Joe Calzaghe is fighting brilliantly, almost Ali-like in his ruling the ring. He’s grabbing and holding exactly when and as needed – not too much, not too little and he’s simply overwhelming Lacy with flurries of punches from angles that Jeff just can’t comprehend.
Round 11 is much like the earlier rounds, but with 2 unique happenings. The first is that Calzaghe pushed Lacy and Jeff falls on his seat and slides a few feet on the canvas - showing us that Joe’s manhandling of Lacy is at it’s peak and that Jeff’s just exhausted. The other happening is that Joe is penalized a point for putting Jeff in a headlock.
12th and final round starts as they all did with the lion hearted Lacy bravely coming right at Calzaghe and entering a hailstorm of Everlast gloves coming from all over and landing all over. Remarkably too Jeff Lacy gets knocked down for the first time in his career – although I wouldn’t have counted it as a knockdown – more of a push.
At the final bell these two warriors have a well earned final embrace that is accompanied by the erupting cheers of the M.E.N. Arena - and the long anticipated fight and the many questions going in to this are finally over and finally answered.
Joe Calzaghe easily won a unanimous decision, which the scores accurately illustrated: 119-105, 119-107 and 119-107.
Post fight:
First and foremost – “wow!” – what a great showing for Joe Calzaghe - so much for not feeling “right” before a fight – well done Champ! I knew he had it in him, but never expected him to be so fast and to be such a dominating force in the ring – great job Joe.
Secondly - one of the best things I take away from this fight is a newfound respect for Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy.
I never considered him to be as good as everyone was saying and I had a slight resentment towards him because of Showtime’s annoying coddling and cooing over him.
If you watch Showtime Boxing, then you’re familiar with the fact that they view Jeff Lacy as the second coming of Jesus Christ with boxing gloves – they almost go as far to say that his sweat stained T-shirts could actually heal the sick – all that hype set off a bad taste in my mouth – no fault of Lacy’s, but he suffered for it.
I now have the utmost respect for him. As a fighter he showed enormous heart and character by coming out and giving his very best every minute of every single round.
His post fight interview was one of the most impressive I’ve ever heard. Everything he said was heartfelt and sincere – what a great guy.
He praised Calzaghe as “the best” and recognized that on this night Joe fought the perfect fight.
Jeff also touched a bit on what this – his first loss in 6 years and his very first loss as a professional means – he said two things that are so impressive and so right on:
“Sometimes…you have to lose to gain.”
And
“…this was a learning experience for me.”
I couldn’t be more impressed if I wanted to and no matter how corny it sounds – both men won something on this night – and congratulations are due to both of them.
It’s funny – Calzaghe didn’t feel right, he did right and in the end Lacy is right.
I never thought I’d say this – or even care enough to think it, but Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy will be back – and better than ever.
Buster Paris can be reached at: bparis@talkingboxing.com - and always enjoys receiving your thoughts, comments and questions.
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