Jeff Lacy vs. Jermain Taylor

If you had told me 3 or 4 years ago that Jeff lacy was going to fight Jermain Taylor, I would have told you "the PPV is on me!". I would talked for months about how Lacy would overwhelm Taylor with combinations in the late rounds, but perhaps after he hit the deck once or twice from flush shots from Taylor. I would have preached how it had the potential to be a fight of the year candidate, and the winner might never lose a fight. (I may be exaggerating a little, but I do get pretty pumped up for big fights, and a few years ago this would have been considered a good fight.)

Fast forward to 2008 and this is a crossroads fight. My stomach churned as I watched Jeff lacy get absolutely destroyed by Joe Calzaghe. I caught up on sleep during Taylor's middleweight reign, and I cheered as Kelly Pavlick brought that reign to thudding close with his sledgehammer right hand. What the hell happened to these two rising stars? Both guys seemed to not only have the goods to be solid fighters for years to come, but they also had something that could have made them crossover stars, something boxing needs as "The Golden Boy" calls it quits. Lacy laid an egg against Calzaghe and if you ask me took a needless beating because his corner was too proud to halt the bout. When Lacy returned after his Calzaghe embarrassed Lacy, "Left Hook" was put in with another awkward lefty, where he tore his rotator cuff in the 3rd round, and again fight till the end needlessly. Since then it has seemed as if Jeff has been a shell of himself. He doesn't let his hands go with reckless abandon, and lightning fast combinations that had halted opponents, has all but disappeared. He doesn't even seem the same in his interviews, that guy with endless confidence who feared nobody, has turned into the guy who looks as if he is putting on a fake bravado to prove how tough he is in hopes the school bully won't pick on him.

Taylor just squeezed by Hopkins, and then cashed in on his title, while at the same time picking a trainer that didn't suit his style very well. Two lackluster performances against smaller opponents, in Cory Spinks and Kassim Ouma left the champ without to many fans. That lead Jermain to an undefeated highly touted middleweight named Kelly Pavlick. Even though he dropped Pavlick early, Taylor took too many rights to the head, and was finally stopped in the 7th. Taylor would reunite with his childhood trainer Ozell Nelson, and give Pavlick a better fight in the rematch, but still end up on the losing end. He has since moved to 168 and will square off against his former Olympic roommate tomorrow night.

It looks as iff this could be a WWE type match, winner moves on, and the loser goes home, for good! This will be a tough fight for me to watch because there wasn't a bigger Lacy fan on the planet that The Bryguy. I was such a big fan that my Mom even said she was sorry after the Calzaghe(that's the honest to god truth, momma Bryguy is the best). Even though Taylor seems to have had less wear & tear than Lacy has, I can't pick against my man. I head says a stoppage late for Taylor, somewhere around the 10th, my heart says the old "Left Hook" is going to show up and take a 10 round decision. It's not out of the question, Lacy has never shown up to a fight and given anything less than 110 percent. He has had lackluster performances, but the past few years can be seen as ring rust from injuries. Taylor however has been stopped once before and Will always have to apologize for his showing against Spinks and Ouma. I will never root against Lacy, so I'm going with a classic "Left Hook" to take this. PREDICTION: LACY UD