TalkingBoxing Interviews
Talking Boxing with JEFF LACY
THU November 3, ANDRES CARRIEDO - Reigning IBF super-middleweight champion with three successful defenses of his title, Jeff Lacy, had initially planned to take part in a unification match against his long reigning WBO counterpart, Joe Calzaghe on November 5th, however, that fight fell out of the picture when Calzaghe injured himself in a meaningless tune up fight against Evans Ashira on September 10th. Long time contender Scott Pemberton was tabbed shortly thereafter as the replacement for Lacy in this Saturday's excellent main event on SHOWTIME Championship Boxing at 9 pm ET [delayed on the west coast].
TalkingBoxing recently caught up with Lacy, 21-0, to see how preparations for his title defense against Pemberton are coming along and to get Lacy’s feelings on the debacle surrounding the Calzaghe fight.
TalkingBoxing: How has training camp been going?
Jeff Lacy: It’s been going great.
TalkingBoxing: Where are you training?
Jeff Lacy: I’ve been training in Tahoe.
TalkingBoxing: Who have you been sparring with?
Jeff Lacy: I don’t really know their last names, but we’ve got a few good sparring partners.
TalkingBoxing: Coming off of your recent win over Robin Reid, you were supposed to fight Joe Calzaghe. Some people thought it was suspicious that he decided to take a fight less than two months before his scheduled fight with you. Did your camp do anything to try to get him to cancel that fight?
Jeff Lacy: Oh of course. It takes two months out for you to get ready for a fight like this. And then he took a fight like that inside of two months. I mean yes we tried to get him to cancel that other fight. Then he went out and took that fight and injured himself. Basically, he took that fight so that he could fake an injury or get an injury and not have to face me for this big November 5th fight on Showtime.
TalkingBoxing: With all of the drama surrounding the Calzaghe fight was it hard to shift your focus to Scott Pemberton?
Jeff Lacy: No. I mean, like I said it takes two months to get prepared for a fight like the Calzaghe fight or whoever and by me being in shape after the Reid fight, I was already in shape. So, I hadn’t even started training camp yet for Joe Calzaghe. When I went into training camp it was for Scott Pemberton.
TalkingBoxing: That was a very impressive fight that you had against Reid. With that fight, the fight with Rubin Williams and the fights against Syd Vanderpool and Omar Sheika you have much more title fight experience, but Scott Pemberton has been a professional prize fighter for longer than you. So, do you consider yourself the more experienced fighter or do you consider him the more experienced fighter?
Jeff Lacy: I mean styles make fights. What you see with me is that I do my best to train hard and come out there and perform. And as far as experience, how could you dictate who has more experience? Because every fighter is different. Every fighter is different from another fighter. It’s all about giving that fighter that opportunity to be on the next level. I mean look at all these guys Bernard Hopkins and all these guys that have been there Antonio Tarver guys like that. I mean they all got there because other people gave them the opportunity to get to that next level. And if you don’t have guys to give you that opportunity, it's hard for someone to perceive on how much experience you really have. So, it’s hard to really dictate on who has the most experience.
TalkingBoxing: Ok. Now that you’re giving Scott Pemberton that opportunity to fight for your title what are you doing in training camp to make sure that he doesn’t take advantage of that opportunity and that your career moves forward?
Jeff Lacy: Oh, of course. I’m definitely training hard because Scott Pemberton is a danger. Like I said, to a lot of boxing fans he’s an unknown, but just because he’s an unknown that doesn’t mean he can’t fight. That’s what hungers me because not too many people know about him and that’s when people underestimate people like a Scott Pemberton.
TalkingBoxing: Now, I’m going to get into your training. One thing that I find interesting is that Dan Birmingham is famous for training both you and Winky Wright, but Winky is more of a finesse fighter and you are an aggressive fighter. The only similarity that I see between the two of you is that you are both always in position to punch. Is that something that you focus on in training?
Jeff Lacy: Being that you got one guy that’s a boxer and one guy that’s a puncher, I mean, that’s the best two guys you could have in the gym because one can learn from the other. The puncher, he don’t like guys that’s going to run. He already knows how to fight guys that’s going to stand in front of him. He don’t like guys that’s going to run. So, he has to work. People underestimate me. I don’t have problems with guy that’s going to box. It’s just a matter of time. That’s why I put so much pressure as the fight go on because I’m used to sparring with Winky and I have to put a lot of pressure on him to get him to slow down to get him to do what I want to do.
A puncher knows what he wants to do when the guy stops. It’s all about getting yourself together and boxing a boxer and vice versa for the boxer. A boxer knows what he wants to do when you want to box, but when you’ve got a puncher who’s standing in there…that’s why the both of us are always set and ready to go because we’ve learned a lot from each other’s style.
TalkingBoxing: What can we expect from Jeff Lacy on November 5th? Because Scott Pemberton likes to get on his toes a little bit, but he will sit down and punch too.
Jeff Lacy: I’m sure, but one of the things about Scott Pemberton is that he will get on his toes, but Scott is easy to hit he’s easily lured into a fight.
TalkingBoxing: Do you plan to do anything special to try to exploit Scott Pemberton’s recent inactivity?
Jeff Lacy: Oh of course. I mean, my style speaks for itself. He’s going to have to be on top of his game. I’m going to come in there with a lot of pressure. I’m going to put a lot of pressure on him and also on top of that being that we’re fighting at altitude.
TalkingBoxing: You are one of the more active champions, in terms of fights per year. I think that is beneficial to you. How do you feel about it?
Jeff Lacy: I feel great about me continuing to stay busy as a world champion because I’m a young fighter with 21 professional fights and everybody is gunning for me. Everybody I get in the ring with has way more fights than I do. And they think they have way more experience than I do, but my amateur background is what’s carrying me through fights with these guys who have more experience than I do.
For me to stay out in the public eye is a good thing too and to stay off that injured list. I’m going to continue to do what I do and I want to stay active because with my style the more I stay back and not fight as much the more lazy I would get, the more I wouldn’t be up for a fight. So, by keeping me training, keeping me fighting, keeping me motivated that only keeps me better and active.
TalkingBoxing: I know that you don’t want to look ahead, but do you think you’ll ever be able to get Joe Calzaghe into the ring and if so what do you think it will take in terms of concessions on your part? And would you be willing to make those concessions?
Jeff Lacy: First of all, with the Joe Calzaghe fight, I was trying to let everybody know who was the best 168 pounder out there. By him turning down this fight, him not wanting to have this challenge, with me agreeing to come over to his hometown, him taking a fight before a bigger fight that would make way more money than he made that night he claims he hurt his hand or did hurt his hand, we eliminated a lot of options. I mean we jumped through hurdles to make this fight happen. And for him to just let it go away, I feel sorry for the boxing fans who don’t get a chance to see a great fight in the Super Middleweight division. You know it’s not only me. A lot of people were disappointed and that’s what I’m not about. I’m not about making my fans disappointed. I was trying to make it as easy as possible. The only way we’re going to be able to help it be understood if he really wants to fight me is if he comes over here. That’s the only way. Like I said, I jumped through the hurdles why can’t he? I guarantee you that I won’t turn the fight down.
TalkingBoxing: Did you sign a contract with them?
Jeff Lacy: The contract was signed up and I was already signed. It didn’t matter. I was going to sign no matter what. He never signed the contract.
TalkingBoxing: So, you can’t take it to court?
Jeff Lacy: No. It was just a bunch of talk.
TalkingBoxing: Is there anything else you want to say to the fans before this interview is over?
Jeff Lacy: I want to wish everybody well. Happy Thanksgiving. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's because this is going to be my last fight of this year and I going to make sure I go out with a bang. It’s going to be a very exciting fight on November 5th.
TalkingBoxing: Alright Jeff. Thanks for giving me this interview and good luck on November 5th.
Photos from Tom Casino/Showtime
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