 Is Lacy the New Holyfield?
The Neutral Corner By Jason Probst (November 4, 2005) Photo © EVERLAST
A few days ago, while debating the merits of Larry Holmes’ reign on an online forum, The Corner got into a heated debate as to the significance of Holmes’ reign, which spanned 7 years and 20 defenses. While we agreed that Holmes had not beaten a great fellow heavyweight in his prime, his tenure was still an impressive one, I argued. The other party didn’t agree, stating that Holmes wasn’t a great fighter, but rather a very good one who ruled over a relatively weak heavyweight division. But then I asked myself: if rarity of status is the indicator for how challenging a task is, Holmes’ reign of 20 defenses pretty much makes him a great fighter.
After all, you can go through history and find a heck of a lot more fighters even the most skeptical of us would agree were “great”; far less made more than 20 consecutive defenses. Joe Louis. Julio Cesar Chavez. Ricardo Lopez. Maybe a couple others who jumped divisions and put together a good string. But not too many.
That brings us to Jeff Lacy, whose first year as IBF champion has been a boon for those who prefer busy champions above all other criterion. Lacy’s defense Saturday night against Scott Pemberton is the champion’s fourth in 13 months, and another sign of how he is closing the gap on longtime 168-lb. king Joe Calzaghe.
While it’s one thing to judge a champion on the quality of his opposition, an easily overlooked factor is factoring in how busy he’s been while rating that opposition. A champ defending 3-4 times per deserves much more leeway than a reluctant recidivist type, who fights 1-2 times a year. After all, it’s easy to dig up a live one on a semi-annual schedule, but any champion keeping busy is going to have to take on a wider range of foes.
And yet despite this, Lacy has, in 13 months of being IBF champ, closed the gap on Joe Calzaghe, the WBO king. Calzaghe has made an impressive 17 defenses since winning the vacant belt in decisioning Chris Eubank in 1997, but has sort of plateaued, competition-wise, in recent years. And that’s the final caveat of the Activity/Competition rule – after making 10-12 defenses, a champion should be forgiven if he is keeping busy as opposed to facing monsters/unification if it isn’t available. Except for the “emerging threat” factor.
But if you’ve been around for a while and pretty much knocked off a dozen or so guys and you don’t jump on the chance to take on the emerging threat, that’s a black mark. Imagine if Holmes had passed on Gerry Cooney. Or Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya hadn’t hooked up (people forget how many stiffs Don King lined up for Felix in the first 14 defenses of his welterweight belt…..beating Oscar overshadowed a lot of that…and Trinidad gave Oscar the chance to prove he could beat someone his own size). It is an impressive thing to make a dozen or so defenses against anyone, but passing on a tough emerging challenge after that long spell of fighting long shots almost always counts against you. Roy Jones Jr. and Dariusz Michalczewski never settled the light heavyweight question and the division still suffers from the fallout of it to this day, as well as on their respective legacies.
But Lacy’s emergence in the past year has offered Calzaghe the chance to elevate his reign from a good one to a very impressive one, and for various reasons the fight can never be made. It’s too bad, because their styles would be a perfect collision. As the impasse continues, Lacy also becomes a bigger attraction and a better fighter. I always believed that Calzaghe should have jumped on him earlier rather than later.
Lacy’s style is very similar to Evander Holyfield at cruiserweight, and like “The Real Deal”, he gives you an honest day’s work. You don’t need to worry about Lacy showing up out of shape. He isn’t moonlighting as a rapper or trying to be an actor. He’s just a man who’s worked with Spartan dedication to become the champion of the world, and he will zealously defend that hard-won status down to the last nub on the bone. Most fighters talk it. Many live it. Less do it every time out over the duration of a career. As Marvin Hagler said of himself, you could probably cut Lacy’s head open and find a big boxing glove in there. He gets hit just enough to make most of his fights exciting, mostly because it seems to do little more than motivate him to fire back.
At cruiser, Holyfield was physically strong enough to walk through those rough spots where his defense failed him, to maul and overpower people with a kind of headstrong abandon that made him a great fighter (and very exciting to watch when he tackled much bigger heavies…something he tempered later in his career by boxing more). That kind of style attracts fans. We like to see fighters tested, and Lacy has a penchant in most of his fights to have a spot where he looks like the other guy might be stumbling on to something, figuring out the antidote.
He usually quashes the insurrection with some heavy-handed bombs, but his slugger’s style will always invite a few detours and wrinkles. But in traveling that route, there will always be the lingering questions, like those that accompanied Holyfield, hinting he might be susceptible to a more refined stylist. In a way it’s good for a rising young star, because when you take the corollary – such as a Pernell Whitaker or Floyd Mayweather Jr. who rarely loses an exchange, much less a round – it can be much less exciting. A climate of “yeah, he’s good, but…” will also spur more attention than a string of whitewashes, especially when you are knocking people silly.
Pemberton is a good fighter, a legit top ten foe. He has proven himself admirably in two fights with Omar Sheika, and has good power and tenacity. And his backers have some good arguments. He’s stretched Richard Grant, a guy that went the distance with Lacy, and stopped Sheika in the tenth of their rematch, while Omar went the route against Lacy. But his long frame seems to be a grim invitation for Lacy’s crushing body shots, and that could be a big factor. When Lacy hits people in the midsection, it’s about as effective an attack as there is in boxing.
I expect Lacy to have another impressive performance, replete with some moments of drama and running into big punches while doling out his own. In training, Lacy is known to spar several rounds while throwing 150-plus punches per round, and he can put more heavy leather on a guy in an effective burst than just about anybody in boxing, and that’s why he should pull out the win Saturday night, with, of course the lingering questions.
However, his chin appears to be solid granite and his desire appears Holyfield-ian (note: make Wikipedia entry), and the guess here is that the fight further presses the question of Calzaghe’s wisdom in not taking on the Floridian sooner. At times in his early career, Lacy seemed reluctant to step on the gas pedal when he had a hurt opponent, always with the question of going the distance perhaps holding him back. But witness his intense barrages on Rubin Williams and Robin Reid, and it’s apparent that he knows exactly how many bullets he can fire – and there are a helluva lot of them – without worrying about running out of gas.
It will only get tougher for Calzaghe as Lacy gets more fights and, more importantly, knows the limits of his stamina and how much to press in each round. Certainly, he’s stepped it up since becoming champion, and with his style, a young slugger knowing the limit of his gas tank is the exact kind of guy that will prove tough for a veteran champ like Joe, who is usually used to being the aggressor and would be best served to avoid exchanges against Jeff.
Calzaghe’s boxing ability is an overlooked asset, as he has good technical skills usually overshadowed by his pressing style. But at this point, I think Lacy is a surging commodity, and younger, which usually spells victory against an older champion with all the accrued mileage of injuries that Joe is apparently suffering from. Plus, Calzaghe’s been at the weight forever and has been floored in recent fights. It might be time for him to move up to 175.
WILL MARQUEZ BE SILENCED?
A treat of a bantam showdown on the Lacy-Pemberton undercard, as hard-hitting IBF champ Rafael Marquez tackles unbeaten South African Silence Mabuza. Since stopping Tim Austin in 2003, Marquez has been the brightest stateside fighter below 122 pounds, with a heavy-handed style and aggressive attack. Mabuza is a good boxer with a solid right hand, and the two should provide for a wonderful match. Marquez might be best served to go up a few pounds, as boxing’s smallest fighters often lose more at the scales than they do in the fight.
I like Mabuza in an upset here, perhaps with a late stoppage or decision win, but he’ll have a tough task in front of him as Marquez fights every minute of every round. Between Showtime and HBO, neither network has really had a star below 122 lbs. in several years. Timmy Austin and Mark Johnson had a few appearances, but weren’t given enough exposure to help them break out for various reasons. Orlando Canizales had a terrific reign as IBF 118-lb. champ from 1988-1994, making 16 defenses, but HBO didn’t’ really pick up on him until later in his career, when he challenged tough Wilfredo Vasquez for the WBC 122-lb. title. Johnny Tapia and Danny Romero received some network gigs before and after their classic 1997 showdown at 115, but the little guys give you more bang for your buck and it’s always nice to see them get some exposure. They don’t tire out and don’t hug their way through a fight, unlike certain bigger guys who seem to land on pay-cable and PPV gigs for the sheer merit of the size and name value.
The winner certainly has good options in front of him. There’s a rematch against the loser, if feasible, as well as solid entrants at 122 lbs. in Oscar Larios (WBC), or solid 115-lb. belt holders in Martin Castillo and Fernando Montiel.
KLITSCHKO-RAHMAN, HEAVYWEIGHT CLARITY LOOMS
Their heavyweight showdown Nov. 12 for Klitschko’s WBC title (and, for what it’s worth, The Ring belt) should provide some key clarity for who is the “true” heavyweight champion. Lennox Lewis doesn’t live here anymore and unification seems an impossible feat, what with Klitschko being the only non-Don King belt holder. However, it’s always darkest before the dawn. Given that Wladimir Klitschko is now the mandatory for Chris Byrd (IBF champ) and Lamon Brewster (WBO king), 2006 can bring about the long-held dream of the brothers to simultaneously hold title belts, which in today’s climate would probably be enough to grant Vitali acclaim as the best…unless baby brother loses.
However, Rahman has always looked good against David Tua and outside of his one-punch destruction of a disinterested Lennox Lewis, he’s always had trouble against taller people. Vitali, meanwhile, looked far less impressive against Danny Williams than in previous outings, technically. He seemed to have lost some of the sharp punching he displayed against Lewis, Corrie Sanders and Kirk Johnson; it was as though he was slapping Williams into submission at times.
But what Vitali does have is a very solid chin and a good understanding of how to fight tall, using his range to take away power on shots, and I don’t see Rahman finding him without paying a pretty stiff price. For Klitschko to gain more support for his claim of being the true champ, he’ll need to knock Rahman out, impressively so, something John Ruiz couldn’t do. It will also be interesting to see whom Wladimir’s handlers send him in against, between Byrd and Brewster. I think Lamon is far more dangerous for both men with his power and tenacity, but given the brothers’ history of avenging each other’s losses, Byrd seems like an inevitable pick, with Brewster on tap for Vitali down the road. If the two brothers do hold title belts at the same time, that would be a forgivable excuse for non-unification, and besides, one of them can always fight the guy who eventually knocks the brother off.
For Questions or Comments
E-Mail Jason Probst at jason@jasonprobst.com
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