Boxing story by Fred Smith, Wed, 23 Nov 2005 06:32:00 GMT


LONDON - Joe Calzaghe will square it off against Jeff Lacy in the super middleweight unification fight in Manchester on 4 March, it was announced here today. Calzaghe and Lacy were scheduled to face-off on November 5, but Lacy broke his hand in his victory over Evans Ashira meaning that the much-awaited clash had to be put-off.

That particular accident had soured into a verbal war between Calzaghe's promoter, Frank Warren and Lacy's promoter Gary Shaw But all is now sure to be forgotten as they brace up fro what could on paper be the biggest fight of 2006, "I don't have to build up this fight because we're not getting anything from the seat sales but when was the last time you had two fighters in the ring who were 60-0 with 48 knock-outs between them? It's just a huge fight.

Joe Calzaghe has been the gatekeeper at 168lbs and this is set to be the biggest fight of 2006," Shaw commented. Frank Warren backed up these statements by saying that he expected this fight to be better than Ricky Hatton's win over Kostya Tszyu.

The two gladiators are also looking forward to the fight. 33-year-old Calzaghe said that this was one fight that he had been waiting for, "My hand will be fine and I'm looking forward to becoming a two-belt world champion. I've always wanted to unify the belts, and now I've got a great chance to do so," he said.

28-year-old Lacy had demanded that the fight be arranged at his home in United States, but is now happy to cross the Atlantic, "I've wanted to fight Joe for a long time, and now I've finally got my chance to show everyone I'm the best super-middleweight in the world," he said. "Joe has been a great champion, but my time has come. There is a new force in the division." Lacy has been stung at being labeled No 2 and said that he was coming to Britain to prove that he was No 1.

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