by David P. Greisman
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Jeff Lacy was supposed to fight Rayco Saunders on a card Saturday night at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. But then it was announced that another bout preceding it would be the last of the evening. That bout ended, and Lacy was left angered and still waiting to fight.
He walked to the ring, gloves on his hands, and proceeded to step into the squared circle — even as it was being taken apart, all while some fans walked out of the building and others remained in the room, drawn to the spectacle despite event staff ordering them to leave.
Lacy wanted to fight. So, too, did his opponent, Rayco Saunders, who also walked toward the ring, gloves on his hands.
They wouldn’t get to fight.
The head of the city’s athletic commission told a local matchmaker and publicist that the fight had been called off because the promoter hadn’t provided the money for the bout. While the money was there for the other matches that had taken place, that was not the case for Lacy-Saunders, and so the fight couldn’t be allowed to go on.
It was another bizarre situation for Lacy, who got stopped in two rounds against Umberto Savigne this past July, then proceeded to use social media to claim that the man he’d faced was much bigger than the man who had been at the weigh-in and must’ve been a brother of Savigne’s who had been substituted in.
Lacy, 37, of St. Petersburg, Florida, remains 26-5 with 18 KOs and 1 no contest.
Saunders, 40, of Pittsburgh, remains 23-24-2 with 10 KOs.
Stay tuned to BoxingScene.com for more updates on this bizarre story.
Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com
