Eric Raskin wrote an interesting aricle, Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben told us that “with great power comes great responsibility.”
That statement is perhaps a bit overdramatic to apply directly to Jermain Taylor and Jeff Lacy, but as U.S. Olympic boxers who turned pro in 2000 Taylor and Lacy qualify for a paraphrased version of Uncle Ben’s words of wisdom. Both fighters learned that with a handsome signing bonus and a great promotional push come higher expectations and great pressure.
Lacy arrived on the pro scene with a physique that literally scared one would-be opponent into leaving town. He also arrived with a reputation as the hardest puncher on the U.S. team. Taylor showed up with male-model looks and a toothpaste-commercial smile. And it didn’t hurt that an Olympic medal was part of the package.
There was every reason in the world for the hype machine to kick into high gear, and for our hope machine to fall in line. But in retrospect, even though both fighters won major titles and have done quite nicely for themselves, they were each slightly overhyped, and we, as fans, slightly overhoped.
Both young men were burdened by the weight of expectations-expectations that were arguably somewhat unfair. These were raw talents being asked to take on the elite and climb the pound-for-pound lists.
Both succeeded up to a certain point, then failed at the next threshold.
On Saturday night, the former Olympic teammates will face each other. The pressure is enormous, since neither can comfortably afford a loss. But finally, both men are free of the burden of grand expectations. And maybe that will translate into one, or both, of them shining like never before.
“Any fight where we’re going into the ring with all this on the line is one of the most important fights of my career,” Lacy said. “I know I’m up for the fight, and I know Jermain will be up for the fight.”
If Lacy does indeed fight like he’s “up for the fight,” it will be the first time in quite a while. Since he lost his perfect record and every second of every round against Joe Calzaghe in a bout for the vacant RING super middleweight championship, “Left Hook” has looked like he left his hook, and everything else, in that Manchester, England, ring. He tore his rotator cuff and eked out a majority decision over lightly regarded Vitali Tsypko. As a comfortable favorite, he needed another debatable decision to beat Peter Manfredo. And against journeyman Epifanio Mendoza, who had lasted less than four rounds with Chad Dawson in his previous fight, Lacy tackled his way out of late trouble and prevailed by another majority decision.
If there’s ever been a more unimpressive three-fight winning streak, it probably involved Ric Flair and outside interference from the Four Horsemen.
And Taylor also knows a thing or two about winning in sorry style. Nobody ever looks good against Bernard Hopkins, so we’ll cut “Bad Intentions” some slack on those two ugly, disputed points wins. But there will be no slack issued for all the backward movement and failure to finish against Kassim Ouma and Cory Spinks, two hopelessly outgunned junior middleweights. And that was before Taylor’s two-fight losing streak began.
Clearly, neither Lacy nor Taylor are what we dreamed they would be. But maybe now, with us dreaming a little smaller, they can fulfill their promise.
Taylor in particular, as the popular pick to win the fight, as the guy who looked better in his last fight (a close rematch loss to Kelly Pavlik), and as the more versatile boxer, still seems to have promise to fulfill.
“I just want the win. I would be happy with a knockout, but what’s important is that I dictate the fight and come away with the victory,” Taylor said. “The nine months layoff [since the second fight with Pavlik] was good for me, it allowed me to set some new goals for myself and to take a good look at where I am in my career and where I want to go.”
Where he might go, should he defeat Lacy, is into a shot at true supremacy at 168 pounds. With the recent departure of Joe Calzaghe, it’s a wide-open division. Clearly, Mikkel Kessler is the top dog, but he’s followed immediately by the rapidly cooling Lucian Bute and two fighters who’ve already lost convincingly to Kessler, Librado Andrade and Anthony Mundine. If Taylor beats Lacy, he instantly becomes the most attractive opponent for Kessler. Maybe it could even determine a RING champion under the right circumstances.
As for Lacy, now that we aren’t expecting great things from him, a win over Taylor would provide an enormous career boost and probably put him in line for a championship bout of his own with Kessler. And win or lose against his former Olympic teammate, Lacy is an exciting, offense-first fighter who should remain a TV attraction. Wouldn’t you love to see him trade bombs with someone like Andrade even if he gets bombed out by Taylor?
Heavyweight Calvin Brock, an Olympic teammate of Lacy and Taylor from 2000, sees that scenario-Lacy bombed out by Taylor-as a distinct possibility. One way or another, whether by knockout or by decision, Brock is predicting a Taylor victory.
“I think he has the style that is going to give Jeff Lacy a lot of trouble,” Brock said. “The size could even be an advantage to Jermain, because he’s moving up a weight class, which means he doesn’t have to drop as much weight; he could come in stronger, better. Boxers turn old at different times, in different ways, and maybe it’s because he’s struggling to make 168 pounds, but whatever the reason, Jeff looks like he’s turning old faster than Jermain.”
Both fighters, actually, are in their 30s, which seems hard to believe. It doesn’t seem like all that long ago that they came home from Sydney, but amazingly, eight years have passed and Taylor and Lacy aren’t young fighters anymore.
They’re both still young enough, however, to believe that it’s not too late to establish lasting legacies.
For now, they’re known as much for the hype they attracted as for the heights they reached. Their fight against each other won’t change that.
But it will keep hope alive for one of them.