Jeff Lacy-Joe Calzhage: Manchester, 04/03/06

[ivor1875]

well here we go with a truly meaningful fight for joe calzhage at long last and he will face an opponent in jeff lacy who is confident and at the top of his game,and he will come with serious intent Jeff* left hook* lacy has been on the periscope for the last couple of years,and he been stepped up in class along the way and he has been very adroitly managed by gary shaw.In his last perfomance when he banged out the usually very durable scottie pemberton in 2 rounds,he looked omniously for joe,a man at the peak of his powers In the fight before that he put down on the canvas 4 times,the granite chinned robin reid from runcorn,and robin has slowed up no doubt about that but he has been in with calzhage and also henry wharton,and boy could he bang,and to be fair many observers thought that robin reid won both fights.So the reid fight tells us that jeff lacy carries serious venom in his fists.In fact looking at lacy;s last few fights he has beaten serious live contenders from canadian syd vanderspool to omer sheika Now the pride of newbridge calzhage has to be frank stagnated in recent years,he has fought a generally poor level of opposition,and it is such a shame after the way that joe first burst onto the scene after a glittering amatuer career,putting down chris eubank,comfortably beating richie woodhall.But like many of frank warren's fighters,he has made plenty of money in a comfortable fashion and he still has a fair bit of mileage left in the tank Joe's last fight ,the big hyped up return of boxing to itv,against evans ashira, was a bit of a damp squib due to joe damaging his hand but he boxed comfortably off the one hand job.Previous to this he had at last overcome his fear of flying and went to brunswick to defat mario veit in six rounds,a good performance,but it has to be stated that joe beat the same fighter in2001,inside one round. The venue and home advantage will naturaly favour calzhage as with enzo maccarinnelii fighting nelson on the same bill,there will 000's of welsh fans there inside the men arena.Although as with hatton-tyzsu,the fight will kick off at 02.00 am to please the showtime paymasters in america which evens it up a touch for lacy.And another sanguine fact is that fighting in manchester,and indeed in england will hold no fears for jeff lacy as he fought inside the same arena in 2003 against donnell wiggins,if my memeory serves me correctly. Now as to the fight itself.Calzhage will obviously look to use his height advantage and the southpaw jab to keep lacy at distance and look to impress the judges with that pitter-patter punching style.He will not be too keen to see lacy attacking him on the inside with that fantastic left hook,and to be fair there is not too much wrong with lacy's right hand as well and whilst i would put calzhage down as the better technical boxer,just,there is very little in it.Lacy is very ,very talented,he will be the best boxer that joe calzhage has fought in a very long time. Lacy can comfortably go the distance,would appear to have a granite chin,he has never been put down,although he does mark up a touch around the eyes,on occasions,due it has to be said to his willingness to go looking for his opponent. Calzhage on the other hand does possess a decent chin but there have been the odd occasions in the last few years where he has looked a little bit rocky at times.The fight in cardiif at the castle,againt bryon mitchel was a point.Yes and well played to joe,he got up to put mitchell down and out.but lacy punches a damn sight harder than mitchell,and lacy like all elite fighter,does not let his man off the hook,once he has him in trouble. At the back of ones mind one can quite concievably make a case for joe.I am sure that he has one big fight left in him.But he faces in the other corner,a younger,harder-hitting man who has been much more active in the last few years,and has fought a much higher level of opponnent than calzhage.If calzhage is to win this one i feel it will be on points.I do not see him being the first one to knock out jeff lacy. Not surprisingly the uk bookies have made calzghage a slight favourite ,5/6 seem to be available,as opposed to lacy's 11/10, which looks very tempting.If you really fancy calzhage then i would check out the odds the odds in the vegas sportsbooks,because the americans do not rate uk fighters period. One great thing about closely rated fights is that there is no need to rush. You can get on the websites,check out the training camp reports ,etc ,probably wait until the eve of the fight And to finish well,i expect a great effort from calzhalge,but i see jeff lacy winning by points or i feel more likely by a stoppage or ko.I will be there,is anyone else on the forum going.?Nothing beats a boxing showdown between the 2 best fighters in their weight class.I cannot wait

[tonysoprano]

Re: jeff lacy-joe calzhage-manchester,04/03/06 Cant wait for this fight, got my tickets and looking forward to it. As much as I like calzaghe, I cant see him beating Lacey. I think Lacey is the best in the division and will be too strong for Calzaghe. Also I dont think Calzaghe has been really tested yet and will struggle against him. Laceys record W 21 (17 ko's) | L 0 | D 0 | Calzaghes record W 40 (31 ko's) | L 0 | D 0 | I'll be taking Lacey on either points or late rounds.