By David P. Greisman
By October of last year, Jeff Lacy had accomplished more than any of his peers on the 2000 U.S. Olympic Boxing team, as he picked up a major championship belt with an eighth round stoppage of 168-lb. contender Syd Vanderpool.
With his victory Saturday over Robin Reid, Lacy has set up a November showdown to unify his IBF title with Joe Calzaghe’s WBO, a major match-up with the consensus top super middleweight. Pending Calzaghe winning his own bout in September, Lacy will have punched and earned his way to a prompt ascent (as opposed to the past praising of Jermain Taylor as middleweight heir apparent by default, due mainly to Bernard Hopkins’s approaching retirement).
This week’s edition of Fighting Words is all about working for the future, from Jeff Lacy’s wipeout of his supposed sternest test to date, to The 10 Count’s perspective on pugilists such as James Toney, Wladimir Klitschko, Lamon Brewster, all of whom have bouts in the coming months that mean plenty for their careers.
Lacy Rocks Robin (Tweet, Tweet, Tweet)
Please don’t blame the columnist for channeling Bobby Day’s doo-wop classic, especially as the situation was just asking for itself if Jeff Lacy used his formidable power to kayo the normally durable Brit.
Lacy didn’t disappoint, swinging for the fences just as he was so wont to do in accumulating sixteen knockouts while building a 20-0 record with one no decision. Robin Reid went down twice in the fifth (although the first time was under poor circumstances, thanks to the referee), once in the sixth and once more in the seventh and final round.
It was quite a feat for Lacy, considering that Reid had never hit the canvas before, and his aggression will be paramount to his future success. While a veteran of the ring like Omar Sheika has been able to counterpunch and trouble Lacy, the line of reasoning that saw some pundits give Reid a good shot at victory also means that opponents can be caught in the line of fire.
Lacy’s strength is his power, and his desire to get inside and trade while inviting the same can spell doom for cocky foes. Reid fell under the influence of machismo, and soon fell to the floor with his eyes rolling backwards thanks to a big right hand uppercut.
Still, as shown with Manny Pacquiao’s bouts with Juan Manuel Marquez and Erik Morales, a good offense cannot always cover up a missing defense. Lacy is trained by Dan Birmingham, and if his coach can impart just a fraction of the wizardry that has assisted Winky Wright’s rise to prominence, then the sky could be the limit.
The bout ended up being much less competitive than expected, overrun by clinching and fouling and marred by a poor call from the third man in the ring, Jorge Alonso. In round five, Reid intentionally butted Lacy, and after Alonso stepped in, Lacy retaliated with a right hook that knocked Reid down. Amazingly, Alonso began a count, and then deducted an additional point for the head butt.
While Reid fizzled out in testing the extent of Lacy’s abilities, it is doubtful that Joe Calzaghe, who holds a string of sixteen consecutive successful title defenses dating back to 1998, will do the same. Rather, it should be another pairing of a division’s best fighters, a veteran against a young-but-credentialed upstart looking for the torch to be passed, but hopefully without the controversy of Bernard Hopkins-Jermain Taylor.
The 10 Count
1. After being suspended due to testing positive for steroids following his bout with John Ruiz, James Toney returns to the ring in October to face Dominick Guinn, meaning that versatile writers out there can write Toney-Guinn and, via homonym, think of the former San Diego Padre and future Hall-of-Famer.
Toney needs a good win to ensure his relevance in the heavyweight picture, but Guinn is not the opponent that it should come against. Lights Out should be in the ring with Chris Byrd for a title as opposed to facing the disappointing Guinn, who once had high expectations but instead has slept through losses to Monte Barrett and Sergei Lyakhovich and a draw with Friday Ahunanya.
Then again, Toney must gain the respect he lost after steroids were found in his system (no matter the supposed circumstances), as well as for letting John Ruiz get his belt back when Toney’s decision win was changed to a no contest.
2. Wladimir Klitschko is making a brave move by facing Samuel Peter in September, as he risks a near-final end to his career should his glass jaw give in under pressure from the heavy-hitting Nigerian. While Peter is exceptionally green and yet to face anyone close to Wlad’s level, his fists are equalizers, especially when considering Klitschko’s defeats at the hands of Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster. Should Wladimir win, it will be a moral victory that could rebuild the confidence of the man once thought to be the next heavyweight king. Klitschko has the skills to keep Peter at bay and away from his chin, but in boxing’s marquee division, all it takes is one punch.
3. With Wladimir scheduled to fight on September 24 on a co-headline with the Miguel Cotto-Gianluca Branco fight, it appears that brother Vitali may be without a date to face the winner of next week’s Hasim Rahman-Monte Barrett bout. With all the past delays of Vitali’s title defense against Rahman, it seems possible that the WBC beltholder is using just another tactic to push the fight back. Then again, there are only six weeks between Rahman-Barrett and the 24th of September, and it is reasonable to believe that HBO wanted to have their card set in stone. Vitali has had only one title defense since he picked up the belt in April 2004, and his dubious perch atop the heavyweights is kept safe only by the rest of his cohorts’ ignominy.
4. The man who could be heavyweight king, Lamon Brewster, is instead facing difficult odds by defending his WBO belt in Germany, against a German resident, on Max Schmeling’s birthday. This is the love that Brewster gets for knocking out Don King’s Polish draw, Andrew Golota, while the Foul Pole gets scheduled for cards in America. Many pugilists have been in similar circumstances before, and Brewster must follow suit and do his best to win by knockout to avoid getting stiffed by a hometown decision.
5. Juan Manuel Marquez receives even less love than Brewster; nobody wants to see him fight. According to Boxingtalk.net, Marquez’s mandatory defense of his IBF featherweight title against Phafrakorb Rakkietgym was met with so little enthusiasm that his promoter, Bob Arum, was unwilling to pay the $50,000 minimum purse bid for the bout to take place. This is quite a distant drop for Marquez, who priced himself out of a rematch with Manny Pacquiao and since then has been left behind while Pacquiao, Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales wage wars one division above.
6. While a couple of weeks ago I took HBO to task for its excessive pay-per-views, I could do something similar for Showtime. This month, they have put their name on two less than stellar shows: the August 13 Don King card, which features the Rahman-Barrett main event, and a Friday night promotion on the 26th that has Jameel McCline, David Tua, Shannon Briggs and Ray Mercer. Boxing fans should save their cash until the Corrales-Castillo rematch on October 8, and remain prudent with their money afterwards so as to prevent these continued attempts at fleecing.
7. Speaking of HBO and its excessive pay-per-views, it appears that the pattern will continue through the rest of the year. September has Marco Antonio Barrera in a junior lightweight unification bout with Robbie Peden, October holds in store Antonio Tarver-Roy Jones Jr. III, November has a date held for Floyd Mayweather Jr. and perhaps another for Winky Wright, and December has the Jermain Taylor-Bernard Hopkins rematch. If only these four bouts could be put together on one card, then fifty dollars would seem like more of a worthwhile investment.
8. Ruben Contreras, the Mexican journeyman that was sent into a coma following his May 28 knockout loss to Brian Viloria, has continued the amazing recovery that seemed so unlikely when he first entered the hospital in critical condition needing emergency brain surgery. Hopefully Contreras’s health will continue to improve and he can move on to a full life outside of the ring.
9. Another formerly comatose boxer is making a miraculous recovery. Jorge Castro, an Argentine light heavyweight contender and veteran of over one hundred professional fights, suffered severe injuries from a car accident and was on life support for two and a half weeks. Since waking up, he has returned home and continued his rehabilitation, and amazingly wants to step back between the ropes to redeem his mandatory shot at WBA beltholder Fabrice Tiozzo. In an interview on the ESPN Deportes website, Castro thanked Tiozzo for wishing him a quick recovery, but Castro then followed, “I’m still gonna blow his head off when I fight him.”
10. One more reason why boxing isn’t taken so seriously anymore: It becomes a national headline when Mike Tyson considers venturing into the adult film industry. One television yap show pondered what his pseudonym should be, completing passing over the obvious Iron Mike.
Next Week’s Fighting Words
Next week’s edition of Fighting Words will look at the results of this weekend’s Hasim Rahman-Monte Barrett fight in detail and handicap the winner’s odds at dethroning Vitali Klitschko. Look for commentary on the undercard bouts to run in The 10 Count, as well as thoughts on any other goings-on in the sweet science.