In a dominant display of boxing skill, former undisputed middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (28-2-1, 17KO) defeated ex IBF super middleweight champ Jeff Lacy (24-2, 17KO) with a unanimous decision in Nashville, TN, at the Vanderbilt Memorial Gymnasium the night of November 15th.
Old foes from their time as amateurs and former Olympic roommates in Sydney, both fighters tipped the scales within the super middleweight limit for the twelve round WBC 168 lbs. eliminator bout in what many deemed a crossroads fight for both warriors.
Lacy of St. Petersburg, FL, stepped in between the ropes with a ledger of 3-0 against marginal opposition since his devastating loss to Joe Calzaghe while Taylor came into the bout after two losses to Kelly Pavlik in which he lost his WBC and WBO middleweight straps and almost a year of inactivity.
Early on Little Rock, AK’s Taylor had success with his quick jab and right hand combinations as the shorter and stockier Lacy used side to side body movement reminiscent of Mike Tyson to get on the inside and attack the mid section of Taylor. Almost at the end of the third, Taylor caught Lacy with an right uppercut-left hook combination which made his opponent hold on and put him on wobbly legs for the rest of the round.
By the middle rounds, Lacy was able to somewhat nullify Taylor’s reach by crowding his opponent and landing punches to the body and head from the inside. Taylor kept to his game plan by switching to his back foot and landing quick two punch combinations as Lacy unsuccessfully tried to trap him against the ropes.
Taylor easily cruised his way to the victory in the last third of the bout with a clear command of the fight with a constant jab while the desperate Lacy had no answer but to bully himself into close quarters and throw wild rights that missed more than they landed.
“I will fight anybody, if it is Joe Calzaghe, then its Joe Calzaghe,” Taylor stated minutes after the fight. This was his first fight in the 168 lbs. weight class and is now classified as the #1 challenger to the WBC strap.
Official scores were 119-109 twice and 118-110 as Taylor landed 48% of his total punches and an impressive 57% of his power punches.