Tweet
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Ladies and gentlemen, I’m back on the wagon.
As I drove west on I-10 toward Saturday night’s fight card in Biloxi, Miss., I’d heard all the reasons why the Roy Jones Jr.-Jeff Lacy main event shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Jones hadn’t been a world champion in five years. He hadn’t beaten a warm body since. And he’d been smacked around and bloodied the last time he’d tried.
Lacy was a fraud. He hadn’t been a champion in three years. And he’d spent the subsequent time making fools of all the people who’d ever believed he was world class to begin with.
In spite of all that, I made the drive anyway… all 485 miles of it.
And now that I’ve returned to the Sunshine State, I’m absolutely sure of one thing.
I’m happy I went.
Because had I not, I’d have missed out on a performance for the ages.
Yes… I said ages.
But before the e-mail jabs and message-board taunts begin – reminding me that a defeat of Lacy in 2009 is hardly the stuff of legends – let me explain.
I know Lacy was more a name than a threat. And I realize his best days were long past.
But it wasn’t just that Jones beat Lacy. It was how he beat him.
Not by the skin-of-his-teeth decision that some predicted. Not with the non-combative shuck-and-jive show that had become his trademark since the surprising KO losses to Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson.
No, this was something different.
A virtuoso performance in which Jones mixed elements of his old arsenal – power, speed, combination punching, aggression – while controlling nearly every minute of nearly every round.
He threw pinpoint uppercuts. He threw punishing hooks. He jumped up and clicked his heels.
And he emerged after 30 minutes with nary a mark on his face.
Just like the old days. [details]
As I drove west on I-10 toward Saturday night’s fight card in Biloxi, Miss., I’d heard all the reasons why the Roy Jones Jr.-Jeff Lacy main event shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Jones hadn’t been a world champion in five years. He hadn’t beaten a warm body since. And he’d been smacked around and bloodied the last time he’d tried.
Lacy was a fraud. He hadn’t been a champion in three years. And he’d spent the subsequent time making fools of all the people who’d ever believed he was world class to begin with.
In spite of all that, I made the drive anyway… all 485 miles of it.
And now that I’ve returned to the Sunshine State, I’m absolutely sure of one thing.
I’m happy I went.
Because had I not, I’d have missed out on a performance for the ages.
Yes… I said ages.
But before the e-mail jabs and message-board taunts begin – reminding me that a defeat of Lacy in 2009 is hardly the stuff of legends – let me explain.
I know Lacy was more a name than a threat. And I realize his best days were long past.
But it wasn’t just that Jones beat Lacy. It was how he beat him.
Not by the skin-of-his-teeth decision that some predicted. Not with the non-combative shuck-and-jive show that had become his trademark since the surprising KO losses to Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson.
No, this was something different.
A virtuoso performance in which Jones mixed elements of his old arsenal – power, speed, combination punching, aggression – while controlling nearly every minute of nearly every round.
He threw pinpoint uppercuts. He threw punishing hooks. He jumped up and clicked his heels.
And he emerged after 30 minutes with nary a mark on his face.
Just like the old days. [details]
Comment