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Jeff Lacy - How he has aged with time


The_budweiser
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What a difference from the guy who had 6 pack of the year and popeye muscles, his defeats possibly dented his confidence?

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Joe Calzaghe destroyed him. Lacy at his best would have beaten Carl Froch.

 

I'm not sure about that Rob.

 

It would be a interesting fight as both are come forward fighters and with both fighters not having a great defence it could of produced fireworks.

 

I'd Favor Froch I think in this fight.

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Joe Calzaghe destroyed him. Lacy at his best would have beaten Carl Froch.

 

lmao

 

Yeah, the Jeff Lacy that was knocking out tomato cans before he fought Joe would of beat Carl.

 

Carl would of knocked Jeff out without needing to land a thousand or so punches on him, it would not of lasted long.

 

Lucky enough for us, Carl choses to fight real opponents.

 

Not going to say much more as I can only assume the above post was a wind up.

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Joe Calzaghe destroyed him. Lacy at his best would have beaten Carl Froch.

 

lmao

 

Yeah, the Jeff Lacy that was knocking out tomato cans before he fought Joe would of beat Carl.

 

Carl would of knocked Jeff out without needing to land a thousand or so punches on him, it would not of lasted long.

 

Lucky enough for us, Carl choses to fight real opponents.

 

Not going to say much more as I can only assume the above post was a wind up.

Lacy was a dangerous fighter but got wrecked by a dazzling Calzaghe performance. The fight could and probably should have been stopped. The fact Joe landed so many was down to his well documented hand injuries. He had the ability to adapt and keep winning. Froch is no Calzaghe - ability wise. His power is overated and he was fighting Lacy leftovers like Robin Reid rather than meaningful fights. Froch has a poor defence and is slow, so Its highly unlikely that Carl, at that time, destroys Jeff as you suggest.
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Joe Calzaghe destroyed him. Lacy at his best would have beaten Carl Froch.

 

lmao

 

Yeah, the Jeff Lacy that was knocking out tomato cans before he fought Joe would of beat Carl.

 

Carl would of knocked Jeff out without needing to land a thousand or so punches on him, it would not of lasted long.

 

Lucky enough for us, Carl choses to fight real opponents.

 

Not going to say much more as I can only assume the above post was a wind up.

Lacy was a dangerous fighter but got wrecked by a dazzling Calzaghe performance. The fight could and probably should have been stopped. The fact Joe landed so many was down to his well documented hand injuries. He had the ability to adapt and keep winning. Froch is no Calzaghe - ability wise. His power is overated and he was fighting Lacy leftovers like Robin Reid rather than meaningful fights. Froch has a poor defence and is slow, so Its highly unlikely that Carl, at that time, destroys Jeff as you suggest.

 

Are you on about the Carl Froch of back then would of lost to Jeff or the one of today?

 

Also:

 

Is a Joe Calzaghe fan really going to start picking holes in someone elses record while attempting to defend Joe and his opponent? Not only that but holes in a guy who has one of the most solid records in world boxing for a long time.

 

Yes Carl was not fighting world level fighters in his 22nd or so fight, much like Joe was still fighting chumps in his prime years. Rematching guys who he has already knocked out in a round or whatever.

 

 

Fighting guys who were not even good enough to win the contender series and looking shit against fringe level fighters like Sakio Bika.

 

Lacy was dangerous because he can punch but he would of been smashed by Pascal or Abraham, he had a world title by beating average opponents and Joe was his first step up to anything like top class.

 

 

Can you tell me which top class opponents Jeff Lacy had faced prior to Joe?

 

Maybe Joe should of stepped up and took on the top level guys earlier instead of fighting Jermain Taylor and Glenn Johnson left overs with an combined age of not far off a hundred.

 

This is not about Carl vs Joe I know but the praising of Calzaghe and criticising of Carl Frochs record in the same paragraph should not be legal.

 

And you did comment on how poor Carl's opponents was back then depsite praising a guy Joe beat that prior to that night had beaten nobody.

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Aaron I think it's pretty universally recognised that Froch has fought top quality opposition continuously the last few years! Rob was commenting on the tier of opponents he was fighting back in 2006, when Joe had the Lacy fight. At that point Froch was the British and European champion I think, but not really a big name and not not fought anyone of note, and he was mouthing alot about fighting Joe. I was a bit annoying back then, but since he has proven to be a top fighter and has deserved his titles and high praise from the boxing audience.

 

However, Rob is Welsh, so he is naturally going to fight Joe C's battles, which is fair enough.

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Aaron I think it's pretty universally recognised that Froch has fought top quality opposition continuously the last few years! Rob was commenting on the tier of opponents he was fighting back in 2006, when Joe had the Lacy fight. At that point Froch was the British and European champion I think, but not really a big name and not not fought anyone of note, and he was mouthing alot about fighting Joe. I was a bit annoying back then, but since he has proven to be a top fighter and has deserved his titles and high praise from the boxing audience.

 

However, Rob is Welsh, so he is naturally going to fight Joe C's battles, which is fair enough.

 

But like I say, Lacy had also fought nobody prior to facing Joe and he got the shot, when Carl was Joe's mandatory Joe vacated apparently.

 

I am english so naturally I will defend Froch.

 

It is all good fun TonTB, it would be boring if these debates do not exist no matter how many times we drill them.

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Im on my phone so can't reply in length. But the Lacy of that time was highly regarded and was expected to beat Joe Calzaghe. The bashing of Calzaghes record is unfair as he beat plenty of worthy and tested opponents like Brewer, Mitchell, Sheika, Reid and Woodhall. Granted, he had easy defences but they werent all easy, as is often exagerated. Froch deserves plenty of credit for his tough schedule and I have praised him in articles I've written for Boxrec News and Ringnews24. Hes a very good fighter who unfortunatly fell short against the Elite in the division in Kessler and Ward. Calzaghe never fell short against the likes of Kessler and Hopkins. Ok, he never fought Glen Johnson but I have no doubt he'd have beaten him just as Clinton Woods and Omar Sheika had.
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The Froch of today mixed in a higher class than Lacy ever managed except Calzaghe, so I can't see it being an easy win for Lacy - he might win but it's at best a 50/50 fight.

 

The Froch around the time of the LAcy fight was a relative novice, so it's rather unfair to suggest he's not as good as Lacy - they were at different stages of their careers - especially as Froch was deliberately taking things the traditional route of winning British, commonwealth, Euro, then world honours. Dodson screwed up 2 or three years of Froch's career with pullouts due to injury etc, so Froch was a late arrival on the world stage.

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I remember the build up to the Calzaghe fight and Lacy was a big threat., It wasn't the names on the record, it was the manner of victory. He walked through Robin Reid, no one had come close to even knocking him down before, and Lacy destoryed him/ Granted, Reid maybe was on the slide but it was impressive. And Peddington was regarded a real tough guy and Lacy destoryed him. Lacy's performances were exciting and impressive. He had a title, was undefeated and the only guy around to present a challenge to Joe. I think Lacy had been fed the right fighters up untill Calzaghe, good frighters but taylor made for Lacy's explosive come forward style. After Calzaghe Lacy couldn't pick the opponents and Jermain Taylor outboxed him quite easily...and the 40 plus Roy Jones counter punched him to a stoppage loss.

He's done, needs to retire.

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The tendency is to totally dismiss Lacy a being just a fabrication and hype job that was never that good to begin with, but I think that's doing him a disservice. He obviously wasn't up to facing Calzaghe and the shoulder injury he suffered pretty much sealed his fate (a guy named "Left Hook" who's destroyed his left shoulder better have other things to fall back on, Jeff Lacy did not).
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Lots of guys get hype, it does not mean that they are or were as good as that hype suggests.

 

Carl had more of an ability to box than Lacy, who could do nothing but walk forward and hope the other guy did not know how to move to the side or backwards.

 

At the end of the day this is all opinion based but look at the class of fighters both Jeff and Carl have faced and beaten and it tells you something as to how a fight would go between them imo.

 

I do not think Jeff Lacy would of won one fight in the super six to be honest, or atleast I would not of had much hope in him doing so.

Taylor, Ward, Dirrell Kessler and Froch all outbox him, Abraham would smash him with the 1,2 down the middle while catching Jeff's returning punches on the gloves for the most part.

 

He was a big banger with no versatility.

 

It was a good move by Frank in making this fight because style wise it was perfect for Joe, I just can't understand why Joe tried to get out of a fight that had so much in his favour.

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Im on my phone so can't reply in length. But the Lacy of that time was highly regarded and was expected to beat Joe Calzaghe. The bashing of Calzaghes record is unfair as he beat plenty of worthy and tested opponents like Brewer, Mitchell, Sheika, Reid and Woodhall. Granted, he had easy defences but they werent all easy, as is often exagerated. Froch deserves plenty of credit for his tough schedule and I have praised him in articles I've written for Boxrec News and Ringnews24. Hes a very good fighter who unfortunatly fell short against the Elite in the division in Kessler and Ward. Calzaghe never fell short against the likes of Kessler and Hopkins. Ok, he never fought Glen Johnson but I have no doubt he'd have beaten him just as Clinton Woods and Omar Sheika had.

 

The criticism of his record mainly is down to the fact he ducked Glenn Johnson on three seperate occasions, any guy who does that deserves slating.

 

You can also not compare the Kessler both Carl and Joe fought imo Rob-

One had a busted hand, outside of his home country, and a manager in hospital after suffering a heart attack.

 

The other had the use of both fists in his home country and a fit team.

 

Joe did just about beat Hopkins but missed the boat for getting the win it could of been, the two defeats Hopkins suffered to Taylor kind of killed the buz around Hopkins and only untill he beat Pascal he was not considered a has been and a worth while name.

 

If you look at Joes record just in numbers then yes it is very impressive, but you look through it properly and it is really nothing amazing.

The likes of RJJ, Hopkins, Tarver, Taylor, Pavlik, Johnson could all of been on their when they mattered and had he got wins over prime versions of the above then no complaints. I know not all of these guys was in his division at times but they was never far off, and I am sure Joe could of made the effort to go up earlier on. It is irrelivant as to if people think he would of won them or not, the main point is he never took these fights because these top guys would not come to fight a hardly known fighter in a little welsh town while bigger things happened in the states.

He did everything when it suited him and only after Hatton growing balls and going to the states did Joe think to do the same.

 

I stand by my opinion that we would of never seen the Hopkins vs Joe fight (even though it was tosh) had Joe not seen what Ricky accomplished with Mayweather.

 

If Joe believed he was as his fans believe he was then he could of had some career, instead he spent his best years taking on home fights against guys that he was largely expected to beat for easy money.

 

Had he lost to a prime Roy Jones and Hopkins then I would of been more impressed than feasting on joke versions of Roy after claiming in his own book that he would never fight him because he was passed it.

 

I was never the biggest Joe fan as you can tell, but I give him some credit for the win over Hopkins. I think he should of granted the rematch as it was close and could of been a interesting a second time around rather than the shit fight the first one was.

 

I give him credit for the win over Lacy, I just do not buy into it being the david vs goliath accomplishment that so many do.

 

And regardless of circumstance then yeah he did well to beat Kessler.

 

3 meaningful wins in a what 15/16 year career maybe more?? Hardly the stuff legends are made of is it.

 

Boxing's obsession with undefeated fighters might well mean that Joe is looked at more kindly in the future than Carl, but in reality Carls record is far far more impressive.

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Unfortunately Rob, I and many people think Calzaghe would never have lost to the elite fighters (except maybe a prime Roy Jones Jr), however he never seemed to have that hunger to go after them and seal his legacy. Or he was happy enough to allow Frank Warren to carefully pick who he fights. He got a lot of credit for beating Lacy and it's a shame how his career has gone since then, because it discredits Joe's victory. It could be down to a bit of luck, in the case of Froch he beat Pascal who has gone on to be a great fighter at Cruiserweight which elevates Froch's win even more so.

 

Fortunately for Joe, this same scenario pans out with Hopkins. At the time I really questioned the decision to fight "Old Man Hopkins", but his fights after the Calzaghe fight demonstrated that Hopkins was still at the top of his game, so that victory worked out well for Joe, unlike the washed up RJJ victory.

 

I got sick and tired of this debate at the time Joe retired, but in my opinion he was probably the most gifted fighter Britain has produced, could have beaten practically all of the top fighters in and around his weight class, but spent too long defending his title over here and really it was too late when he left warren and went over to the States.

 

If Joe had the hunger and desire to fight the big names at their best (like froch), he would have made an even bigger name/legacy for himself, and that's even if he had lost once or twice.

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Unfortunately Rob, I and many people think Calzaghe would never have lost to the elite fighters (except maybe a prime Roy Jones Jr), however he never seemed to have that hunger to go after them and seal his legacy. Or he was happy enough to allow Frank Warren to carefully pick who he fights. He got a lot of credit for beating Lacy and it's a shame how his career has gone since then, because it discredits Joe's victory. It could be down to a bit of luck, in the case of Froch he beat Pascal who has gone on to be a great fighter at Cruiserweight which elevates Froch's win even more so.

 

Fortunately for Joe, this same scenario pans out with Hopkins. At the time I really questioned the decision to fight "Old Man Hopkins", but his fights after the Calzaghe fight demonstrated that Hopkins was still at the top of his game, so that victory worked out well for Joe, unlike the washed up RJJ victory.

 

I got sick and tired of this debate at the time Joe retired, but in my opinion he was probably the most gifted fighter Britain has produced, could have beaten practically all of the top fighters in and around his weight class, but spent too long defending his title over here and really it was too late when he left warren and went over to the States.

 

If Joe had the hunger and desire to fight the big names at their best (like froch), he would have made an even bigger name/legacy for himself, and that's even if he had lost once or twice.

 

Agreed.

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I remember a little the time of the Lacy fight, there were a couple of other champions in Beyer and Mundine, and before them there was Sven Ottke.

This is the sort of fighter I can't really forgive Calzaghe for not facing.

He made up for this tenfold with the last few fights of his career, but they only showed that Calzaghe had the potential to be an all-time great, if only he had taken some more risks earlier.

At the end of the day, his displays showed he was a world class boxer, his record doesn't make for bad reading, and he retired undefeated.

You can only say the same for a handful of other boxers ever at this level.

Lacy was the favourite for their fight by about 3 to 1 in terms of writers and boxing insiders opinions and Joe totally destroyed him.

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The Ottke fight not happening is a strike against both fighters. I know they offered Sven the fight and he wasnt interested. Joe even fought in Germany. Ottke never seemed interested in unification and never fought fellow German chams Beyer. On Hopkins - he turned down a fight with Joe and completly skipped the Super Middleweight division.
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The Ottke fight not happening is a strike against both fighters. I know they offered Sven the fight and he wasnt interested. Joe even fought in Germany. Ottke never seemed interested in unification and never fought fellow German chams Beyer. On Hopkins - he turned down a fight with Joe and completly skipped the Super Middleweight division.

 

I think that's one where we originally held Joe accountable, but then at the end when he took the Beyer rematch on the road and practically BEGGED Ottke to fight him, it all fell on Sven's shoulders (and rightfully so).

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