On December 12th, in downtown St. Petersburg Fl, former IBF super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy, 25-4 (17), stepped back into the ring for the first time in over a year, taking time off to heal after rotator cuff surgery. The fighter that Lacy picked was a very rugged Philly fighter and a veteran of boxing, Dhafir Smith, 24-19-7 (4), who had been in the ring with fighters like Andre Ward and Larry Marks. A fighter with the record that Smith stepped into the ring with was seen as a safer bet than most, but still a bit dangerous for Lacy, considering he would be facing some tough ring rust.
The fight started out well for Lacy who was able to hunt down Smith and apply pressure in the first round. Lacy looked like the fighter of old, constant jabs to the body and his famous left hook working well at peppering the body and face of Smith. Winning the first round and on this pace, it looked like Lacy would be on his way to a workman like victory. Then the second round happened. The comfortable Lacy started to look like he was lost as he chased Smith around the ring. The rest of the fight seemed to get worse for Lacy as he went after Smith, but was unable to catch up with him. Lacy seemed to have lost the tracking aggressive style that he had once possessed prior to a devastating loss to Joe Calzaghe and a shoulder injury that required surgery. In the end, the judges’ scorecards showed how far Lacy has fallen from his world title as Smith won all three score cards 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112.
So what happens to Jeff Lacy now? This “comeback” fight was supposed to propel Lacy back into the boxing public’s view, and it did, but for the wrong reason. Even with a still attractive record, Lacy, should he continue to fight, may be relegated to a “gatekeeper” status. He has now dropped three of his last four fights. Friends of the fighter stated that Lacy was still in good spirits after the fight, but will be taking time to decide his next step. Jeff has always been a very approachable and nice guy, so I would hate to see him delegated to a fighter that people could use to get a “name” on their record. Do I think that he is completely done? Not necessarily, but his quick run to a title may be over for now. Jeff may need to step down in opponents for a couple fights, shake the ring rust off and move forward. The loss to Smith, although very hurtful to his career, may have just been an example of how a fighter that had been gone for 14 months may want to refocus himself. Time will tell if Lacy is able to continue.
Bob Carroll
www.convictedartist.com
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