By Tom Donelson
Scott Pemberton had the perfect game plan going into his bout with Jeff Lacy. As his trainer told one noted reporter, Pemberton’s goal was to turn this match into a remake of Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson. Using his reach and left jab, Pemberton wanted to keep Lacy on the outside while setting him up for his feared right.
For the first two minutes of the fight, Pemberton did exactly what trainer John Scully taught him to do. He jabbed and found a home for his occasional right hand. The problem was that Jeff Lacy's improvement as a fighter reached new heights and Pemberton’s punches failed to have any impact upon the charging Lacy.
As the round progressed, “Left Hook” Lacy countered Pemberton's left with a straight overhand right of his own. Lacy could easily have his nickname changed to “right cross”, as he constantly pounded Pemberton with those nasty counter rights. Lacy's feints and come forward movement, made him a more difficult target to hit and Pemberton found himself on the defensive as the first round ended. From this point, it would be a matter of time.
In the second round, midnight arrived for Pemberton as Lacy twice knocked down the game New Englander with an assortment of punches. The first knockdown began with double left hooks to the body before ending with a clubbing right.
Pemberton, shaken, got up and retreated to the ropes. Wild punches from Lacy missed the target as Pemberton kept his hands up. Pemberton maneuvered back into the center of the ring, but Lacy's pursuit ended the matter. Lacy caught Pemberton with yet another combination and again, a clubbing right sent Pemberton down to the canvas. Pemberton may have been able to continue, but referee Vic Drakulich stopped the fight without even starting a count.
Pemberton acknowledged after the fight that with the recent tragedies in the ring, a quick stoppage was warranted. While Pemberton had the will to continue, it was quite obvious that Pemberton was no match for Lacy on this night. This was a case that a fighter had the perfect game plan and even attempted to execute it but the superiority of the other fighter made mincemeat of the game plan. Pemberton did his best but on this night, he was up against one of boxing’s elite fighters at his best.
Lacy shows continued growth and maturity as he prepares to unify the title. The big name on his mind is Calzaghe. Unfortunately for boxing fans, the other major fights with Kessler and Beyer may never come up or come up anytime soon. For Lacy, the big money fight is Calzaghe and while these other fighters are major threats, there is no big money in fighting either one. Economics may keep Lacy from attempting to clean out the division before facing Calzaghe.
Before going into the Silence Mabuza-Rafael Marquez fight, I looked up the IBO website. Mabuza is the IBO recognized champion and this fight was a partial unification bout, as Marquez was putting up his IBF version of the title, and Mabuza his IBO belt.
On the IBO website, they have a list of their champions and they also have a computerized system of the top 100 fighters in each division. IBO recognized Mabuza but their computerized standing had Marquez number one ranked in the division.
Obviously the computer had the champion right but I find it interesting that a sanctioning body actually has a computerized ranking system side by side with their own rankings. And this computerized system does not always jive with the body’s own ranking. For example, the IBO cruiserweight champion is Carl Thompson but the IBO computerized ranking has Thompson ranked ninth! Call it honesty in advertisement. At least, the IBO is honest in acknowledging that they are not perfect in their rankings. The computerized system gives boxing fans a different way to look at rankings in the sport.
Speaking of honesty, Showtime's replays showed that the cut over Mabuza’s right eye was a result of a headbutt where as, the referee in the ring declared the cut was the result of punches. When pressed after fight by Jim Gray, referee Norm Budden admitted that he would have declared the cut being caused as a result of a headbutt.
In fairness to Budden, Marquez nailed Mabuza with a left hook as their heads clashed. From Budden's angle, it definitely looked like a punch. Maybe boxing should consider the use of a replay system, but I must admit that I am glad that Budden made the mistake.
To have this fight declared a no-contest would have been unfair to Marquez. Marquez was the superior fighter and Mabuza was not going to win on this night. This was Marquez's night and the fight ended the way it should have- with the best bantamweight in the world with his hand raised.
Marquez's next goal will be taking on WBA champion Wladimir Sidorenko and then moving up to take on Oscar Larios.
