Joe Calzaghe vs. Jeff Lacy

Joe Calzaghe vs. Jeff Lacy was a boxing match that took place on March 4, 2006 in Manchester, England for the WBO, IBF, & The Ring titles. Dubbed "Judgement day", it pitted long-time WBO champion Calzaghe against up and coming IBF champion, American Jeff "Left Hook" Lacy.

Judgement Day
DateMarch 4, 2006
VenueMEN Arena, Manchester, England
Title(s) on the lineWBO, IBF & Ring Magazine Championships
Tale of the tape
Boxer Joe Calzaghe Jeff Lacy
Nickname Pride of Wales Left Hook
Hometown Newbridge, Caerphilly, Wales St. Petersburg, Florida
Pre-fight record 40-0 21-0 with 1 NC
Recognition WBO Super Middleweight Champion
 IBF Super Middleweight champion

Build-up

Joe Calzaghe had been WBO super middleweight champion for over eight years having beaten Chris Eubank for the vacant title in 1997. He had held onto his belt for 17 defences and was considered on the fringes of being one of the best fighters of the world.[1]

Jeff Lacy was an American champion who had been compared to Mike Tyson in size and was considered one of the hottest prospects in American boxing. In 2004 he won the IBF title against Syd Vanderpool by TKO in the eighth round.[2] Most American journalists wrote off Calzaghe's chances of victory[3][4] and the odds were against Calzaghe despite having an equally perfect record, and even people in the UK doubted him.[5] Prior to the fight, Calzaghe was worried about his left hand after breaking it against Evans Ashira. He contemplated pulling out of the fight only for his father Enzo and Frank Warren to persuade him to take a potentially life-changing fight.[6] The fight was staged at 2.00am local time at the MEN Arena in Manchester and topped the bill on Frank Warren's Sport Network and was live on ITV in the UK and Showtime in the United States. The Ring announcer was Jimmy Lennon, Jr. and the referee was Raul Caiz.[7]

The Fight

The fight was a one-sided beating of Lacy that involved him being rocked on several occasions and being knocked down for the first time in his career in the 12th round.[8] In round one, Lacy had a bloody nose. By round four he was cut and his eyes were puffed up at the end of the fight. Lacy failed to land any of his trademark left hooks and the only thing that prevented Calzaghe from a shutout was a deducted point for punching round Lacy's back at the break in the 11th. The number of blows was 351/948 for Calzaghe and 116/444 for Lacy. The three ringside judges scored the bout 119-105, 119-107 and 119-107, all for Calzaghe. The decisive victory for Calzaghe cemented his place at the top of the super middleweight ranks.

Aftermath

Jeff Lacy was never the same fighter again. He won his next 3 fights, but then lost again to Jermain Taylor. Calzaghe, however, was propelled into the limelight, going on to have a successful career and be recognised in the pound-for-pound lists before retiring unbeaten.[9] Calzaghe said: "Eight years I've been champion and I've been written off by a lot of people. This fight has been on my mind morning, noon and night. I demolished him and outclassed him. His punches didn't trouble me in the slightest. I was expecting more. I saw them coming from miles away. I knew I was going to win the fight. How's that for a slapper? Those slaps had his legs going all over the place."[10]

Boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, who admitted to knowing little of Calzaghe before the fight, said: "Within two rounds I was a Calzaghe supporter. I stood up in front of the TV shouting, 'Wow, look at this guy!'[11]

gollark: You can get these nice small LCDs/OLEDs for them.
gollark: I've tried to get other cool SBCs like the Rock64/RockPro64 (from Pine64), but unfortunately they're not very available in the Uk.
gollark: That'd be quite simple to do.
gollark: Run it over serial?
gollark: what could possibly go wrong?

References
  1. "Boxrec | Joe Calzaghe professional record". Archived from the original on 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  2. "Boxrec | Jeff Lacy professional record". Archived from the original on 2012-06-03. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  3. http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=3266
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-03-12. Retrieved 2010-10-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Betting odds for Calzaghe vs. Lacy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  6. "Wales Online | Calzaghe's wait goes on". Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  7. "Boxrec | Joe Calzaghe vs. Jeff Lacy". Archived from the original on 2012-10-09. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  8. "BBC | Dazzling Calzaghe unifies titles". Archived from the original on 2008-01-07. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  9. "The Sweet Science | 2006 boxing pound for pound". Archived from the original on 2007-01-24. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  10. "British Boxing | Calzaghe takes Lacy to school". Archived from the original on 2008-08-29. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  11. BBC | Calzaghe's Top 10 career highs.
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