05.03.06 – By Michael Klimes: The God of the 168 Pounders: My journey up to Manchester reminded me of how brutal the winter has been by British standards in the United Kingdom. Frost wafted through the air and after the fight the pavements were shrouded in ice. For all the coldness I felt though, it couldn’t have compared to the coldness in the ring where Jeff Lacy experienced a blizzard blown in by Joe Calzaghe’s fists. Seldom have I seen such destruction of a fighter that was meant to be an equal of his opponent and seldom was it so chilling. I won’t go into a round by round synopsis as it has been extensively covered by other Eastsideboxing writers but I cannot help but make the odd passing comments..
Calzaghe boxed beautifully, boldly and bravely. He went out to steal the belt at the first bell. I sat there in the audience, thirty metres away from the ring thinking how long can Calzaghe maintain this steaming speed? He unleashed thrilling combinations from the outside, great digging uppercuts to the head from the inside and superb hooks. The fight hadn’t got past three rounds. I was waiting nervously for Lacy to land his body shots and demonstrate the ‘Mike Tyson’, which Gary Shaw had so proudly bragged about. It never came.
Calzaghe proved as elusive and as stunning as a flash of lighting and as powerful as the thunder, which comes after it. Lacy was repeatedly electrocuted. I wrote, in a piece about a month ago predicting a tightly contested battle. I have never been so wrong and I apologise for this. If Calzaghe was not Welsh and Scottish instead, he could have been named after the Victorian super train: ‘The Flying Scotsman.’ Like the furnace in this famous train the ‘Welsh Dragon’ breathed fire in abundance.
Calzaghe’s intelligence also shone through as he allowed Lacy no respite. He moved back when he needed to: doubling and trebling the jab, at times audaciously fought him on the ropes; clinching to break up the momentum of ‘Left Hook’ and bemusing him with a four punch combinations before covering up or making a great escape. He avoided being trapped in the corners and in the most memorable part of the fight, by using excellent lateral movement with the feet and shoulder to push Lacy into a brick wall. He then unloaded.
The Defeated Man.
Although Lacy was insufficient in his rendition of Tyson he cannot be knocked down on one front and that relates to his courage. He proved he is the ‘Evander Holyfield’ of his division as he got off the canvas and survived Calzaghe’s most determined onslaughts. Although hopelessly outclassed, Lacy is still young and could still be the heir apparent to the throne. He has to surpass the hype and become more like Tyson in real life.
If he had been like Tyson, as Shaw monotonously drilled into the boxing world, he would have provided a much stiffer challenge to Calzaghe. Lacy’s footwork, hand speed and overall skills in their current form (in retrospect) should never have been compared to Tyson. Tyson was a true search and destroy machine that could rip apart highly accomplished boxer-punchers. We will see what Lacy really has in how he comes back from defeat. His record is 21-1 and is still respectable.
He will be back stronger and better.
The Welshman’s Legacy?
Calzaghe has spat in the face of boxing pundits, fans, commentators, Jeff Lacy and me. I was always a fan of Calzaghe but I was shocked at his sheer mastery of the ring. A question, however, has to be raised about Calzaghe’s ultimate standing. It is a fact Calzaghe did not fight for sixth months, thereby making his victory more impressive, but his command of Lacy underscores something, rather ironic I have always felt about Calzaghe: He has had a career-defining fight which was easy, almost too easy.
If we look back into the past, many career-defining fights have pitted two equally matched fighters against one another and brought out the best in them. Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns and Marco Antonio Barrera vs. Eric Morales are just a few modern examples. Calzaghe’s utter destruction of what was expected to be his toughest ever appointment signifies the unalterable problem that Calzaghe’s true talents will never be fully exploited because he has been too good for his era.
When he first arrived to the world stage by out-pointing Chris Eubank in 1997 the middleweight and super middleweight landscapes had all ready been transformed. The best Americans Calzaghe has ever fought are Charles Brewer, Jeff Lacy and Byron Mitchell. They are all in their own right good fighters, as were his British counterparts Robin Reid, Ritchie Woodhall and the ageing Chris Eubank.
However, Calzaghe has always been a boxer motivated by challenges and obstacles. He becomes more focused, more dangerous and more gracing greatness; not just mere brilliance when he is pushed to the precipice. The expectation of Lacy rekindled his ambition and we now have this extraordinary result.
Surely Calzaghe and the fans are appreciative of Calzaghe’s boxing blessings yet is it not a tremendous shame he was not born ten years earlier? Nigel Benn, Michael Watson, a prime Chris Eubank and Herol Graham could have been on his record. So could have Steve Collins, James Toney, Roy Jones Junior, Gerald McClellan, Julian Jackson, Mike McCullum and Iran Barkley. These men forged part of the middleweight’s division most glorious moments. Calzaghe, with his supreme craftsmanship would have been a fine edition to this roster but history and time took a different course.
Calzaghe has done what only a fighter can do and that is beat the man that is put in front of him. History is the past and the past we cannot change. The Welshman has achieved the best he can.
Memories
I will never forget the day when fate eventually shone on Joe Calzaghe. He has finally got a result to match his gifts. The atmosphere at the M.E.N Arena was sensational and the partisan Welsh crowd did a sterling job in supporting the main protagonist in this saga. Chants of, ‘Easy, easy, easy’ came off the rafters and not once was the brave Jeff Lacy fazed by our chanting. He, we must remember, has come to Britain and Calzaghe has yet to continue his adventure in America. Last night an arena celebrated their hero.