Tweet
By CompuBox - For only the seventh time in boxing history, two U.S. Olympic teammates will fight one another as professionals when former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (the 156-pound representative in the 2000 Sydney games) fights onetime super middleweight king Jeff Lacy (who filled the 165-pound slot). The bout will take place at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Memorial Gymnasium November 15 and the 30-year-old Taylor (27-2-1, 17 KO) is a solid 5-to-1 favorite to defeat the 31-year-old Lacy (24-1, 17 KO).
On paper the odds seem odd because Taylor has lost his last two fights while Lacy has won three in a row. When one looks deeper, however, Taylor is favored because he has looked better in his two defeats to Kelly Pavlik than Lacy has in his wins over Vitali Tsypko, Peter Manfredo and Epifanio Mendoza – all of which went the 10 round distance and two of which were unimpressive majority decisions.
Lacy fought Manfredo on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather-Ricky Hatton pay-per-view telecast and the bout saw several shifts of momentum. “The Pride of Providence” started the fight well as in the first two rounds he was 28 of 101 overall to Lacy’s 11 of 71 while out-jabbing “Left Hook” 11-1. The gap closed considerably in the third as Manfredo out-landed Lacy 19-15 overall and the ex-Olympian enjoyed his most lopsided round in the fourth as he went 20 of 69 to Manfredo’s 8 of 42. Following a quiet fifth and sixth rounds, Lacy surged in the seventh and especially the 10th to put the fight away. While both gunned for a big finish in the final round Lacy reached highs in total connects (25), total attempts (91), power shot connects (25) and attempts (82). [details]
On paper the odds seem odd because Taylor has lost his last two fights while Lacy has won three in a row. When one looks deeper, however, Taylor is favored because he has looked better in his two defeats to Kelly Pavlik than Lacy has in his wins over Vitali Tsypko, Peter Manfredo and Epifanio Mendoza – all of which went the 10 round distance and two of which were unimpressive majority decisions.
Lacy fought Manfredo on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather-Ricky Hatton pay-per-view telecast and the bout saw several shifts of momentum. “The Pride of Providence” started the fight well as in the first two rounds he was 28 of 101 overall to Lacy’s 11 of 71 while out-jabbing “Left Hook” 11-1. The gap closed considerably in the third as Manfredo out-landed Lacy 19-15 overall and the ex-Olympian enjoyed his most lopsided round in the fourth as he went 20 of 69 to Manfredo’s 8 of 42. Following a quiet fifth and sixth rounds, Lacy surged in the seventh and especially the 10th to put the fight away. While both gunned for a big finish in the final round Lacy reached highs in total connects (25), total attempts (91), power shot connects (25) and attempts (82). [details]
Comment