Boxing story by Carl Anders, Mon, 06 Mar 2006 19:12:01 GMT


MANCHESTER, England - Joe Calzaghe retained the World Boxing Organization super-middleweight title in superb fashion yesterday as he downed Jeff Lacy. In the process, Calzaghe also annexed the American's International Boxing Federation title in a fight that was billed as the making of Lacy and the extermination of Calzaghe.

In 12 rounds of pulsating boxing, Calzaghe taught the pretender some very basic lessons, prime among them, never underestimate your opponent. There were whispers in the media that Calzaghe was avoiding a fight and media rumblings across the Atlantic were vehement in stating that Lacy was the new Mike Tyson.

But at the end of it all the 33-year-old Welshman's pure boxing skills outmaneuvered his young challenger. Lacy's left hooks, which are thought to be one of the most dangerous in the sport were deftly neutralized by a closed boxing strategy adopted by Calzaghe. From the beginning he looked in command and was never ruffled at any stage in the game.

The judges' scorecards which read 119-105, 119-107, 119-107 underlined the superiority displayed by Calzaghe, who broke Lacy's nose in the second round, then crushed his eyes in the fifth. By then Lacy had all but abandoned any game plan that he came up with.

Calzaghe was elated to have silenced his critics, "I want to go for the biggest fights out there because there is no point going backwards now. My stock will have gone up in America and they will know I am a British guy who can really fight," he said after the match.

"I've spent eight years trying to unify the titles and it would be pretty hard to give it all up now. But I will have a rest and speak to Frank Warren before I decide." Lacy paid tribute to his opponent, "He came out and fought a remarkable fight. He fought a perfect fight tonight," he admitted.

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