by James Slater – It wasn’t all that long ago that former world super-middleweight champion and touted future superstar Jeff Lacy was thinking seriously about retiring from boxing all together. Saying he had had enough of the business side of the sport, “Left Hook” was close to pulling out of his title elimination bout against fellow former world champion Jermain Taylor..
The 31-year-old from St. Petersburg, Florida eventually changed his mind as we know, and he was clearly and widely out-pointed by “Bad Intentions,” losing for just the second time in his pro career in November of last year. And now, in trying something new, Lacy shows no signs of wanting to quit the game. Forming his own promotional group, entitled Left Hook Promotions, the former champ will now presumably make all the decisions about who and where he fights.
Phase one of his latest, promoter/boxer comeback takes place in Tampa on April 10th and the card has been dubbed “The Homecoming.” So far no opponent has been announced for Lacy, but the card will also feature local fighters Lenroy Thomas and Kermit Gonzalez in action.
Lacy said in an interview with TBO.com, that he had been thinking about becoming his own promoter for some time now.
“The toughest part was to go out and do it and not just talk about doing it,” Lacy said. “I’ve talked about doing things before and never got around to me putting my foot in the cement and carving my name. The last couple of promoters that I’ve had around me – a lot of things didn’t sit comfortably. I had a vision of going out and doing things a different way. They felt they wanted to do things their way.
“The way I saw it was, I’m the fighter. I saw things a little bit differently.”
It can often be good for a fighter who has lost his way a little to come back with a new outlook and a fresh approach. Who knows, maybe the former IBF 168-pound champion, now that he has more control over his own destiny, will come back a rejuvenated fighter. It won’t be easy, though.
Some say Lacy never recovered, either physically or mentally, from the shellacking Joe Calzaghe gave him back in 2006 – and the wide loss to Taylor and the tough times Lacy had in winning prior to that fight do seem to back up such thinking, it must be said. Still, Jeff is young enough to give it one more go, and statistically his record, at 24-2(17) is still impressive.
We can’t really expect him to face anyone too tough on April 10th, but it will be interesting to see how Lacy looks all the same.