By Jason Kim: On August 15th, former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. (53-5-39 KO’s) will be stepping in the ring to fight one of his better opponents in the past five years when he fights former International Boxing Federation super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy (25-2, 17 KO’s) in a 12 round bout for the little known WBO BABO light heavyweight title at the Gulf Coast Arena, in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Technically, Jones and Lacy are still contenders in the light heavyweight division, but it appears both of them are on the downward slope of their careers. Indeed, both Jones and Lacy appear to be shot fighters from the looks of them. Although that’s shot for them and not for an average fighter.
Since both of them were incredibly talented to begin with and blessed with extraordinary skills, they’re still world class talents despite the obvious slippage in their skills. It’s hard to see what either of them are still fighting for at this point in their careers because I can’t see either of them getting title shots anytime soon. Anything’s possible in boxing, though.
Jones, 40, has had problems since 2004 and has lost four out of his last eight fights. In terms of skills, Jones still looks really good, like a fighter much younger than his age, but his work rate is greatly reduced from what it once was and he’s unable to fight hard for three minutes of every round without having to retreat to the ropes where he’s had a nasty habit of leaning against them for prolonged stretches of time in many of his fights.
Fighters needing to rest against the ropes is a telltale sign of age, as when fighters get older, their legs are often unable to get them around the ring for without frequent rest breaks against the ropes. Jones looked horrible in suffering a 12 round decision loss to Joe Calzaghe last year in November. Unable to pull the trigger, Jones was beaten to the punch all night long, except for an early 1st round knockdown when he caught Calzaghe with a right forearm to the head.
Lacy, 32, is struggling almost as badly as Jones despite being eight years younger. Lacy has looked like a shell of his former self since being defeated by Calzaghe in a one-sided 12 round decision in 2006. Lacy has won four of five fights since then, but his victories over Vitali Tsypko, Peter Manfredo Jr., Epifanio and Otis Griffin have been far from impressive. Lacy was taken to the edge by each of them, just barely getting the nod in most of the fights. Lacy was badly outclassed by Jermain Taylor in a 12 round decision loss in November 2008.
Lacy says that he plans on knocking Jones out he says. However, it’s hard to take him at his word nowadays because Lacy hasn’t recorded a knockout since November 2005. He still hits hard with his right hand, but his left hook has lost much of the power that it once has after Lacy injured it in a fight with Tsypko three years ago in 2006. Lacy later on needed surgery on his left shoulder after the fight to repair a torn rotator cuff.
Roy, too, is predicting that he’ll stop Lacy. But, like Lacy, Jones has also experienced a severe dry spell between his last knockout victory which was seven long years ago. Based on their recent efforts in the ring, it’s probably safe to say that this fight won’t end up a knockout for either fighter.
More likely, Jones will give Lacy problems with his short hooks and his elusive style of fighting. Jones isn’t the same fighter he once was, but he still remains the much more versatile fighter in comparison to Lacy and will probably be able to dominate with whatever he has left.
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