Lacy: Written off but determined

The story is legendary. Jeff Lacy was so scary that the opponent for his pro debut took one look at him shirtless at the weigh-in and bolted from the building, never to be seen again. That’s how intimidating he once was.

And the former Olympian lived up to the image for five years, starting his career 21-0 (with 17 knockouts). It seemed a star was blossoming.

Then, amid considerable excitement, he stepped into the ring with Joe Calzaghe in 2006 and perception was turned upside down.

The talented Welshman battered his young rival for 12 solid rounds to win an almost-shutout decision and render Lacy helpless fodder for critics in the media and public. Overrated, no talent, just another fighter, a joke ... they didn’t hold back.

The beating Lacy took hurt plenty. The reaction afterward hurt worse.

“It was difficult,” said Lacy, who fights fellow Floridian Roy Jones Jr. on Saturday in Biloxi, Miss., on pay-per-view television. “… Nobody said, ‘Well, he had a bad night.’ They said things like, ‘He’s not what we thought he was.’ That hurt like hell. You go out there and put everything on the line for something you love, and you do it for the public instead of yourself.

“When they turn on you, it hurts. I was angry. Now, I look at it as a life lesson. I’m OK with it. Now, I do it for myself.”

Lacy (25-2, 17 KOs) was careful not to make excuses for the enormous setback against Calzaghe, giving the future Hall of Famer his due while also pointing to other elite fighters – Mikkel Kessler, Bernard Hopkins and Jones – who also lost to Calzaghe.

In retrospect, however, he said he wasn’t ready for the fight. He had bought into his own hype, feeling invincible. Now, he looks back and sees that he didn’t have the experience to give Calzaghe a good fight in his home country.

Lacy has more explaining to do, though. He lost a one-sided decision to 2000 Olympic teammate Jermain Taylor and hasn’t won convincingly since Calzaghe, including fights against opponents we’ve never heard of.

Lacy dismisses the Taylor loss because the two are friends; he said he wasn’t nearly as aggressive as he normally is, adding that he still thinks he should’ve been awarded the decision. And he attributes his less-than-convincing victories since Calzaghe to difficulty getting up for no-name opponents.

Yes, he knows his many doubters will interpret such comments as excuses and his most-recent performances as further evidence of his mediocrity. He's used to it, though.

“It’s the same stuff they were saying after the Calzaghe fight,” Lacy said. “I’m the one who has to go into the ring next Saturday night and prove people wrong or right. It’s easy for someone to sit behind a computer or a TV and judge you, as if they know what you’re going through day in and day out.

“Everyone has their ups and downs, no matter what you do. As fighters, we're judged because we’re in the public. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.”

Lacy insists he’s motivated for Jones, the one-time wizard who is 40 and has a lot less magic than he used to. He knows this is a chance to surprise those who have written him off as an over-hyped, under-skilled physical specimen.

Physically, he says he feels as good at 32 as he ever did. He claims he’s confident, having had a very good training camp, and is in a very good frame of mind. And he still has the dreams he has always had, which includes recognition as one of the best fighters in the world.

“To sum it all up, I want to get back to the top of the mountain and look down on it all,” he said. “Y’all wrote me off. That’s the only thing I want to say.”


Michael Rosenthal can be reached at RingTVeditor@yahoo.com