10 Years After: Recalling the Night Joe Calzaghe Took Jeff Lacy to School

Joe Calzaghe’s career CV includes some famous victims.

The Welshman claimed the vacant WBO super middleweight title by beating Chris Eubank in 1997, kicking off a long and glorious reign as champion that incorporated victories over Robin Reid and Mikkel Kessler.

He finished up with wins over two famous names, as he travelled to the United States in 2008 to out-point Bernard Hopkins and then Roy Jones Jr. in contests staged at light heavyweight.

However, like Eubank over a decade earlier, both Hopkins and Jones Jr. were past their prime by the time Calzaghe faced them.

The same could not be said, however, for Jeff Lacy. The undefeated American was the reigning IBF champion at 168 pounds when he travelled to take on Calzaghe in Manchester, England, on March 4, 2006.

However, at the MEN Arena, the Pride of Wales not only unified the belts but also produced a performance that still—a decade on—remains one of the memorable nights in modern British boxing history.

Calzaghe systematically destroyed the much-hyped Lacy to such an extent that his opponent was never the same fighter.

And yet, the biggest night of his career very nearly didn’t happen.

Calzaghe, who had suffered a broken left hand against Evans Ashira in his previous outing, came close to pulling out of the date with Lacy due to a wrist injury.

His father and trainer, Enzo, persuaded him to go through with the bout, as Calzaghe later told Matt Christie of Boxing News:

"

I was injured again and I was going to pull out. But my dad told me I had to fight. I was extremely proud of the way I fought that night. I put a clinic on and dismantled him. It was my proudest performance. It was the only time in my career I was the underdog and everyone had written me off. If anything it motivated me even more to prove I was the best.

"

Enzo’s wise words paved the way for his son to produce a career-defining display.

The only concern with Calzaghe’s previously broken hand would be that he might damage it again while continually landing punches on his opponent’s head.

Astonishingly, despite having successfully defended his WBO title 17 times prior to the bout, and the fact he boasted an unbeaten record as a pro, Calzaghe entered the ring at 2 a.m. local time—the delayed start was to allow Showtime to air the bout live in the United States—as the underdog.

Scott Christ of Bad Left Hook wrote: "The American sportsbooks had Lacy as the favorite. The British sportsbooks had Lacy as the favorite."

Not many of the BoxingScene.com staff gave Calzaghe much of a chance, either. The majority of their predictions didn't even see the home fighter lasting through to the final bell.

The reason for that was Lacy's power. In racking up 21 straight wins, the man nicknamed Left Hook had quickly developed a fearsome reputation for knocking out opponents.

While Calzaghe had struggled against Reid in 1999, coming out on top on a split-decision verdict, Lacy—albeit facing Reid six years later—forced the Englishman to retire after Round 7.

The American followed up that win by taking less than six minutes to flatten compatriot Scott Pemberton, setting up a unification clash in Britain.

Lacy’s heavy hands were seen as the pivotal factor in deciding the outcome. He could hit hard, very hard. That wasn't just a matter of opinion either, as he explained to Donald McRae of the Guardian:

"

At the 2000 Olympics, when I got the bronze, they tested my power with a machine that measures the impact of a punch by pounds per square inch. They said afterwards I had the highest ever score on that machine—more even than heavyweights. It was frightening. They said it was bone-breaking pressure, as devastating to the guy getting hit as a high-speed car smash. Calzaghe will collapse under that power.

"

Lacy, however, would learn a painful lesson in the ring—speed kills.

The visiting fighter started off aggressively, even having the odd moment of success in the early stages, but with each passing round, his hope of returning home with both belts was emphatically drummed out of him.

Calzaghe had his foe rocking against the ropes in Round 7, while by Round 9 he was in such control he could afford to taunt Lacy, whose static head movement and lumbering forward marches made him a sitting duck.

In Round 12, Lacy was dropped to the floor. He rose again and made it through to the final bell. It was a small victory on an otherwise disastrous night for the man from Florida.

If you missed the bout but came in before the verdict had been announced, you didn't have to wait for the scores to work out who had won. With damage to both eyes and blood leaking from his nose, Lacy's face told you what had just unfolded.

John Gichigi/Getty Images

While Calzaghe did slump to the canvas after the final bell, it was only in delight.

He was soon up again on his feet and celebrating to each side of the arena, with the fans chanting back at him "Easy! Easy! Easy!" They were right, too.

When the one-sided verdict was announced by Jimmy Lennon Jr., Lacy sat in his corner. It wasn't as if he didn't know what was coming.

A pair of the judges at ringside scored it 119-107, while the other official's card read 119-105. Those margins would have been even greater had Calzaghe not been deducted a point by referee Raul Caiz Sr. in Round 11 for hitting behind the head.

Dan Birmingham, Left Hook's trainer, said in the aftermath, per John Rawling of the Guardian: "I have never seen such a magnificent performance as that."

Perhaps Calzaghe mesmerised the opposing corner to such a degree that they kept forgetting to pull their man out.

Birmingham was right to say it had been a dazzling performance, for sure, but the closing rounds made for tough viewing. Lacy's power may have offered hope, but the situation became hopeless towards the end, and his team could have spared him from taking so much punishment.

According to BoxRec, the winner landed 351 punches. Such was the one-sided nature of the contest, a zero could be added to the end of that number and it would still have been believable at the time.

How good was Calzaghe’s performance? Good enough to impress the great Sugar Ray Leonard, who said, per the Daily Mail: "I was watching it [the fight] at home with Eddie Murphy and we all thought that Lacy would knock him out. The Lacy people thought Joe was just an opponent but if he fights like that he beats anyone."

Calzaghe did beat everyone, finishing with a 46-0 record.

He won five more fights before retiring in 2009, although none of them lived up to his outing against Lacy, and he has since been voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

As for Lacy, losing on a bill promoted as Judgement Day sentenced him to spend the rest of his career as an also-ran.

He triumphed in only six of his next 11 outings and was last seen in the ring getting stopped by Sullivan Barrera in Jan. 2015. 

Having arrived in Britain as the next big thing in the sport, Lacy left with his reputation in tatters. Calzaghe, in contrast, left an indelible mark in the memories of many with 36 minutes of boxing brilliance.

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