Boxing: Lacy vs Calzaghe (March 4)

[H2O Man]

This weekend, Showtime will feature a fascinating Super Middleweight bout between Jeff Lacy and Joe Calzaghe. The fight is free to Showtime subscribers, or on PPV for $25.

Lacy, 28 years old, and Calzaghe,33, are both expected to weigh in at 168 pounds. Calzaghe, at 6', is about 3 inches taller, though Lacy's 74" reach gives him a 3 inch advantage.

Lacy's record is 21-0, with 17 kos; Calzaghe is 40-0 with 1 n.d., and 31 kos.

Both camps agree that there will be no US or European ring officials. I think that could become an issue, simply because the US and Europe offer the very best in boxing officials.

Calzaghe is expected to try to outbox his younger, more powerful, but less defensively skilled opponent. Calzaghe has a history of hand injuries, including breaking his hand in his last fight. He is not considered to be a especially hard puncher, though in my book, his accuracy and combination punching makes him a dangerous foe.

Lacy has youth and tends to get stronger in the second half of a fight. He takes a good punch, though I think his corner should be concerned, as he often seems too easy to hit. That does not play well with top level competition.

I would think that the odds on this fight are about even. I think that Calzaghe will hit harder than Lacy expects. He is also a crafty boxer. Still, Lacy is a better opponent than Calzaghe has met in recent years. His power becomes more of a factor as his physical strength wears an opponent down. He has been more active in recent years.

Boxing fans are in for a great year in 2006. I believe that Showtime and HBO are in serious competition for offering the best contests in the sport. ESPN and MSG are also having a steady schedule of quality boxing on. All we need now are some serious boxing writers, and the public will see that boxing is back in business as the most exciting sport.

[dr.zoidberg]

1. An interesting fight.

It's hard to say which way this fight will go. On one hand you have Lacy with his huge punching power, and on the other hand you have Calzaghe's experience in the ring and experience in title fights, not to mention home field advantage.

I agree that ESPN has increased the quality of their fights. It seems that they are going the route of SHOBox, profiling major prospects against not as well known prospects, with an occasional title fight now and then. HBO has a fire lit under it with the rise of Showtime's Championship Boxing shows. Showtime has done a great job with their show, and the idea of having a fight on the 1st Saturday of every month is a great idea. HBO need to so something like that.

I got ahold of some Terry Norris fights and I'll tell you, he was awesome. His execution of Meldrick Taylor was beautiful and brutal at the same time. HBO would have one believe that Chavez ended Taylor' career. That is plain wrong, Terry Norris ended Taylor's career. I've got to find more of him.

I'm getting irritated with Antonio Tarver. He seems more interested in fighting boxing's senior circuit than going after any deserving Light-Heavyweights. He is going to fight Bernard Hopkins later this year and yet he has shown no inclination to fight Glen Johnson, Fabrice Tiozzo, Zsolt Erdei, or Tomaz Adameck. All of those fighters are worthy of Tarver's time, yet Tarver is going to fight Hopkins and had mention wanting to fight Roy Jones a fourth time. This is the light-heavyweight champion of the world?

[H2O Man]

2. The Tarver-Hopkins fight

should not be considered a "title" fight. As much respect as I have for Bernard, there is no justification for calling him a light heavyweight contender. I have wondered about why Antonio wants to do the circus route .... obviously money, but he had been talking about fighting Mike Tyson, too. Although my son thinks I'm wrong, Mike would flatten Tarver in a round, two at most. I had him watch a film of Frazier v Foster to see why. It doesn't matter that Tyson has slipped in skill level, and can't beat 6'6", 250 lb guys.

Terry Norris was at the Hall of Fame last year. He was simply a perfect fighter. He has never gotten the respect that he really earned, largely because he followed some of the greats. Always liked him and his brother.

[TroubleMan]

3. Damn...I moved, and now have free cable, but lost all the movie channels

The condos where we live provide free cable, but if you want any of the movie channels or PPV, you have to subscribe to digital cable. I can't justify paying $70 per month (as opposed to zero per month) just so I can watch boxing on Showtime and HBO, and buy the UFC and Pride PPV's.

I agree that boxing's on it's way back. If we just permanently ban Don King, it could really start taking off again - he's the guy who ruined it in the first place.

[H2O Man]

4. There were advantages

to the "good old days" when there were the Gillette Friday Night Fights, and then ABC's Wide World of Sports championship fights. I think ESPN does a good job of putting on competitive fights between top contenders. But the best fights these days are PPV, HBO, and Showtime.

I tape fights, and then there are a half-dozen people that pass the tapes around. Do you have friends who you can either invite yourself over to see the fights live, or get copies of tapes from? I usually have anywhere from 2 to 12 people show up for the HBO/Showtime fights.

[TSIAS]

5. Tonight's fights were disappointing

I thought Calzaghe would win the fight, but I didn't expect it to be so one-sided.

The HBO card was mediocre as well. I bought Mosley/Vargas last week, so I had no reason to watch the replay. Cotto probably won every round versus Branco. Maybe we'll see Cotto step up against a top-notch fighter sometime this year. I heard the HBO guys say that Gatti would be a prospective opponent if he can beat Baldomir in July.

For now, it looks like Cotto will fight Paul Malignaggi at the Madison Square Garden in June.

[H2O Man]

8. The Cotto fight

in the Garden would be interesting. It sounds like his people don't want him up against a puncher, and there may be something to that .... at least for a fight or two. But Paul M. may pose more risks than most mid-level talents with a big punch. He's fast, and he has a greater understanding of keeping distances that his speed allows him to exploit without being hit .... and he might give Cotto fits.

I had thought the Lacy-Calzaghe fight was fairly even, as far as odds went. But I thought if Calzaghe won, it would either be by a knockout early, or squeeking out a decision. He surprised me. I had hoped for a Lacy victory, but I appreciated an outstanding showing by an aging master.

[dr.zoidberg]

9. On the Cotto-Malignaggi fight...

I like the dynamic of the fight with Cotto, the hard-hitting puncher with boxing skills, versus Malignaggi, the fleet-of-foot boxer. It should be an interesting fight. The thing I see, however, is that Malignaggi isn't as good as Lovemore N'Dou, which would put Malignaggi below Chop-Chop Corely and Ricardo Torres. Also, Malignaggi hasn't faced anyone as good as those three fighters mentioned earlier. At the same time, Malignaggi's speed and footwork could give Cotto problems. It is hard to say which way this fight will go, but I definitely want to see it.

[H2O Man]

10. He is a work

in progress. He is an obnoxious kid, who is willing to try to back his business up in the ring. He's no Willie Pep, but with time, he may be difficult to beat.

At this point, Cotto appears too strong, and he clearly has power. But, if they fight at MSG, we should get together ringside. I'll show you some pictures of Willie Pep reffing one of my fights .... and that IS rare in NYS.

[dr.zoidberg]

11. I'd love too.

The problem is that I live in Louisiana and am a college student. That and a lack of funds and transportation assets mean that I can't see live boxing outside of my home state. Obviously, there is not a whole hell of a lot of action going on here, although I have seen DeMarcus "Chop-Chop" Corely, Vassily Jirov, and Juan Diaz fight in Kinder, Louisiana. That's right Kender, a small town that has only one feature, its casino.

I hope one day to see fights in the Garden. I don't know when, but I hope to.

[H2O Man]

12. Oh, my error.

For some reason, I thought you were from the northeast. Sorry about that. I love the Garden, though I've only been there one time, long ago, for the second Ali-Frazier fight. My brother bought us ringside seats. It was an outrageous experience.

A friend from near Utica told me that the casino in Verona is going to try to have fights almost every month. A couple weeks ago, ESPN was there again. I have to have someone drive me (being disabled sucks), but it is a blast. Years ago, there were fight cards all around here, from relatively small towns to larger cities. I enjoy amateurs as much as pros. My sons love watching the fights, and the younger one keeps asking if we can go to MSG.

[dr.zoidberg]

6. A one-sided beating.

I have not seen such a one-sided beating since Trinidad/Wright. To be honest, I think that Lacy/Calzaghe surpasses it.

The options after this fight are many for Calzaghe. he could chose to unify the 168-pound titles by facing Marcus Beyer and Mikkel Kessler. He could also move up in weight to fight Tarver or he could decide to fight IBF champion Clinton Woods to establish himself at 175. Of course, if Calzaghe wants to fight for the IBF lightheavyweight belt then he would probably have to wait until the Woods/Glen Johnson fight happens because Johnson is Woods' mandatory.

For Lacy, it's back to the drawing board. He may need to go Sam Peter's route and get with a trainer that will get him to stop relying on looping punches and get him to do more head movement. Lacy is young enough to bounce back from this defeat, but I don't see him being any more than a titlist at best in the future.

[H2O Man]

7. Impressive showing

for Calzaghe. I'd like to see him continue to fight top competition, though he may need to cross the pond. I know that Bernard Hopkins had said he'd like to fight the winner of the match, though I do not think he would do well at this point of his career against the larger Calzaghe.

Lacy needs to learn to punch from a "mid-distance." Calzaghe covered his left arm inside, or lifted it, and the guy never made the slightest attempt to adjust his offense .... other than to put it on ice, and block punches. Did he attempt -- even once -- to use his reach advantage? To throw a straight punch? A double jab? Was there ever head movement (before Calzaghe snapped his head around)? Bobbing and weaving? No. He was robotic. And his corner was close to worthless.

Calzaghe did a wonderful job. I'd like to see him consider becoming a world champion, rather than a parochial figure in boxing. Lacy can improve; a loss should never be over-estimated. There was a young contender who was unable to adjust when he fought an older ex-champion, and he got his behind handed to him. Unlike Lacy, Joe Louis didn't last the decision. He came back. I'm not implying Lacy is in the same class .... but Louis looked robotic and flawed in his first loss.