By Sammy Rozenberg

The biggest fight in the super middleweight division since Roy Jones Jr. met James Toney in 1994, lived up to the billing as Joe Calzaghe (41-0, 31 KOs) dominated Jeff Lacy (21-1, 17 KOs) to unify the IBF/WBO/IBO super middleweight titles. The live crowd at the MEN Arena in Manchester, England gave Calzaghe a standing obviation at the end of the bout as he successfully defended his title for the 18th time.

This was the signature bout to cap off the career of Joe Calzaghe, the longest reigning champion in boxing, holding his super middleweight title for over 8 years and running. Most questioned his skills, his strength and his heart - Calzaghe shut the critics up by making Lacy look like an amateur.

Calzaghe controlled Lacy from the start of the bout by working off the jab and tied Lacy up ever time the fighter from Florida tried to come inside. Lacy was unable to land any of his big punches as Calzaghe made him miss and countered with uppercuts and lead right hands.

By the fifth round, Lacy appeared tired, his nose was bleeding, his face was puffy and his eye was cut. Down the stretch, Calzaghe battered Lacy and punished him with power punches to the head and body. Lacy was never able to adjust or come up with a new game plan to turn the tide. In the final round, Lacy tasted the canvas for the first time in his career as Calzaghe was unloading with power. The positive for Lacy is the fact that the young fighter was able to make it to the final bell. The final scores were 119-105, 119-107 and 119-107, all for Calzaghe.

Now Calzaghe must decide if he wants to shoot for the most money or unifying the super middleweight division. Battles against WBA champion Mikkel Kessler or WBC champion Markus Beyer would solidify Calzaghe's supremacy, but a fight against either man would not be worth much on American soil, where Calzaghe wants to fight before the end of his career. If there is money to be made in a unification battle against the other champions, they would have to hold the fight overseas.

If Calzaghe is looking for a fight with the biggest financial reward, the obvious move would be to move up to light heavyweight and challenge Antonio Tarver, if he wins his June 10 battle with former middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins. If Tarver is upset, it puts Calzaghe in a very difficult position in terms of putting together a big money fight. Hopkins has already put it on the record that win, lose or draw - he is walking away from the sport.

The fact that Hopkins walks away if he beats Tarver, would limit the big money picture at 175 pounds. A fight with Tarver would not be worth much on a financial level if he gets upset by a career middleweight in Hopkins. There would be too much risk, without the element of the big reward.

The long shot picture would be to lure one of the bigger names at middleweight to move up 8 pounds and set up a bout of significance. The problem with luring a middleweight to move up in weight is that fact that there are so many name fighters at the middleweight level, that none of them need to take a chance by moving up in weight in order to find a big fight. Neither Jermain Taylor, Fernando Vargas or Winky Wright have shown any desire to move up to 168 pounds in the near future, if at all.

Unfortunately for Calzaghe, he may have to stick it out at the super middleweight limit and unify the division until something big comes along or until one fighter or another rises from the ranks to become a star.

On the undercard:

Enzo Maccarinelli (23-1, 17 KOs) bested Mark Hobson (24-4-1, 12KOs) by way of a twelve round decision, the scores were 114-113, 114-113 and 116-112.

Undefeated super middleweight Chad Dawson (22-0, 15 KOs) defeated Jamie Hearn (10-6-1, 4KOs) by way of a third round knockout.