Boxing News : Probst

Left Hook moves ahead of Calzaghe
The Neutral Corner by Jason Probst (August 13, 2005)
The Corner is feeling clever, since a year ago I posited the theory that Joe Calzaghe had better make a fight with Jeff Lacy sooner, rather than waiting. Sure enough, since then Lacy was gone from a likely underdog to a likely favorite should the two meet later this year.

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While Calzaghe has lingered, fighting meaningless foes and canceling matches due to recurring injuries, Lacy has kept busy against world-class competition. And with his impressive blowout win over Robin Reid last weekend, it's obvious that Lacy's game puts him in good stead with anybody at 168 lbs or less.

I'm not sure Jermain Taylor could really discourage Lacy, and Calzaghe, a pressure fighter without a big punch, might simply be outgunned against Lacy, who strings together big punches that simply wear down opponents. He'll miss you three times and come with a fourth and a fifth, and that is the kind of imposing style that tires the recipient, as though being shot at by a gun with one helluva big magazine.

Reid had never been stopped before, and lost a disputed decision against Calzaghe in 1999. He's clearly past his prime at age 34, but perhaps the more important fact is that while Calzaghe has made 16 defenses of his WBO title since winning it in Oct. 1997, maybe four of those were against guys rated in the Top Ten at the time he fought them. Most. The guess here is that soft schedule and inactivity are going to work against Calzaghe.

They don't make Lacy an impossible task - Calzaghe has some decent boxing skills he may have to utilize to switch up and keep Lacy guessing - but since winning the title in October, Lacy has dared to step up and succeeded wildly, proving that the only way to really raise your profile in the sport is to fight decent competition regularly, and blow 'em out. Frank Warren, Calzaghe's promoter, may be taking the Ricky Hatton tack with Calzaghe, but there's a big difference here - Lacy is a helluva lot more like prime Kostya
Tszyu was than Kostya was last June, when Hatton out hustled him. Calzaghe's people should have taken this fight a year ago when Lacy was still a touch raw around the edges.

Short Shots

As reported by Max's own Steve Kim this week, Bob Arum is now trying to match Floyd Mayweather with Zab Judah instead of Antonio Margarito. It's hard to figure out which would be more dangerous for Floyd, but the purist in me would rather see Mayweather tangle with Margarito - who is as honest and blue-collar in his approach as you could ask of a fighter - than Judah. It's because I'm not sure if Zab and Floyd would really be able to find one another that much. Meanwhile, Margarito's size advantage and pressure style
would give Pretty Boy the opportunity for one of his extended recitals, playing a very difficult piece of music. It seems a bit more honest and classical clash of styles. Meanwhile, Zab could get out boxed for a few rounds and wipe Floyd out with one big bomb. Seriously. If anybody has looked better since moving up in weight, it's Judah, who is the one guy in the game with the speed to catch a defensive whiz like Floyd cold.

If it is made though, I'd pick Floyd. Too many distance fights and too consistent. I used to pick against Pernell Whitaker against bigger guys too, but I've learned my lessons.

*What do we do it this weekend's Hasim Rahman-Monte Barrett WBC title eliminator ends in a draw? I'm not losing much sleep over it, either. I still have a buddy who talks about how terrible the last King PPV card he saw was. He brings it up completely at random, as though I'd groped him on the subway or something.

It was Ruiz-Oquendo and I begged him not to watch it, but he was in town and wanted to see what a round-by-round scorer does and how it works. Six beers later he said, "Jesus Christ, this is a horrible way to spend a Saturday." I explained that Ruiz could make Jenna Jameson boring, but he didn't buy it. He's sure as hell not buying any boxing pay per view ever again.

*If Ricardo Mayorga wins over Michelle Piccirillo, I hope somebody hands him a cigarette afterward. I still think it's the coolest thing Larry Merchant's done since he shoved that punk off-screen several years ago. Speaking of which, have you seen the mean little exchange between Lacy and Merchant after the Jermain Taylor-Daniel Edouard fight? It's right before Merchant is trying to line up an interview with Taylor. It's pretty funny, or maybe it's just Lacy's mean-spirited Merchant impression that makes it so bizarre…Seriously though, you notice these things when you watch a lot of tape. But
I'll always like Merchant because he cuts fighters off when they start thanking everyone from sponsors to hangers on. He boxes out and gets the rebound, so to speak, even the rough ones.