Scott Mallon: Fight has great potential
By TSS Predictions March 1st, 2006Scott Mallon goes against the grain and picks Calzaghe
Everybody’s big on Jeff Lacy and some are discounting the prowess of Joe Calzaghe. Not me. I think the fight has great potential and may be the bout both fighters need to bring out the best of one another. Personally I think Calzaghe isn’t given the credit he’s due. He’s a strong, determined and skilled fighter fighting in front of his crowd. Lacy has been looking better and better but is on enemy territory. Lacy’s not all he’s cracked up to be and Calzaghe has more than people give him credit for. On his home soil – Calzaghe via unanimous decision.
Scott Mallon is The Sweet Science’s Far East Correspondent. To read more of his work
March 1st, 2006 at 11:10 pm
With all due respect, Scott, it’s not going to happen. Indeed, Calzaghe’s crafty and tough, and I believe he will have his moments in this fight, particularly early. Lacy’s defense is porous when he’s kept at a distance, and he sometimes takes a few rounds to get into gear.
But in the end, Lacy’s simply too strong and too relentless for Calzaghe. With each successive round Lacy closes the gap faster, forcing outgunned opponents into shootouts. Both Rob Reid and Syd Vanderpool had some early success against Lacy, but neither could keep him off their chests for long.
There are two types of fighter who will give Lacy trouble — one with sufficient pop to deter his aggression, and one with the legs to stay away from him. Calzaghe is neither.
While Calzaghe will fare a bit better than Reid and Vanderpool, endgame will be the same. An interesting fight through four will turn into a lopsided beating by the seventh. Lacy by TKO in nine.
March 2nd, 2006 at 2:24 pm
Joe Calzaghe stops Lacy in 8. Calzaghe is faster, craftier, and he punches harder. I’m tired of hearing about what a monster Lacy is. He’s a very good fighter. Calzaghe is a lot stronger than the American fight fraternity is giving him credit for. Lacy has never been in with anyone close to his quality. Calzaghe has the heart of a lion, he is being vastly undervalued. He’s not Syd Vanderpool or Robin Reid.
March 2nd, 2006 at 4:44 pm
And Calzaghe has never been in with anyone close to the quality of Lacy. Calzaghe punches harder than Jeff Lacy? Now there’s a laugh. I think Kevin Kolber’s prediction is dead on.
March 2nd, 2006 at 8:30 pm
I disagree slightly with Kevin, although not completely. I think the fight won’t go the distance - especially since I don’t trust the judging in hometown fights like this one will be for Calzaghe. I think Joe has trained hard for this one since he may look confident, but he knows this fight can make him or break him. But I think he has bitten quite a bit more than he can chew when it comes to Jeff. Jeff has the momentum coming into this fight since his level of opposition as of late has been quite better than Calzaghe’s. Experience doesn’t always make a fighter great, but Jeff is a great fighter. Lacy by TKO in 6.
March 5th, 2006 at 12:24 am
Well, Scott and James, I stand corrected!
Remarkable performance by Calzaghe tonight. 25% quicker, smarter and stronger than I’ve ever seen him. As he promised in pre-fight interviews, he rose to the level of the opposition and the magnitude of the event. Calzaghe’s fight plan exposed and then exploited Lacy’s every weakness — the under-use of the jab, the absence of head movement, the leaky defense, the tendency to throw only one punch at a time. But Calzaghe executed to a T.
Hats off to Joe, and to the handful of fans who saw this coming. Because I certainly didn’t!
March 5th, 2006 at 8:49 am
Hey fellas,
Calzaghe fought an incredible fight last night. He was more disciplined than I expected. All credit to Lacy for hanging in there, because he took an awful beating. I actually thought his corner should have thought about pulling him out at some point. The referee may have saved Lacy from a stoppage loss in the 12th with that ill timed break in the action after Lacy had been dropped. The US fight media really fell in love with Lacy (he looks the part physically), but I maintain that Joe Calzaghe has never been pushed around in a fight, his physical strength is sorely undervalued. The US fight media needs to give proper respect to some of the champs from overseas because much of what I read in the build up to this fight was just absolute rubbish. I’m glad Calzaghe worked over Lacy the way he did,maybe glad is not the right word,(I greatly appreciate Lacy’s effort in making this fight and showing tremendous heart) but I’m happy that Calzaghe was able to show the US his fighting ability. I rank Calzaghe as perhaps the best British fighter of all time. Cheers!
March 6th, 2006 at 6:54 pm
I always thought that in order to win calzaghe had to set the tone from the get-go and boy did he. Somewhere in the 2nd minute of the 1st he landed an uppercut on lacy that stunned lacy psychologically - He disovered the welshman could punch! Joe also had the perfect foil in ducking under lacy’s wide loooping shots and his footwork was great, sidestepping after tying lacy up and the letting loose those combinations. Yes Joe does slap sometimes but this time his punches were straight and accurate. I have seen lacy fight better though - the combinations were missing and there was no jab - in other words he made it too easy for calzaghe. I do think calzaghe would have had an answer for anything lacy brought to the table though. Best performance i have seen since floyd junior dismantled gatti.