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Lacy Set For Next Boxing Chapter

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By EDDIE DANIELS The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 8, 2007

TAMPA - A sense of calmness has descended upon Jeff Lacy.

The St. Petersburg super welterweight doesn't shy away from talking about his meltdown against Joe Calzaghe in early 2006. Instead, he welcomes that conversation.

Nor does he hide the complex steps he has taken along the journey from surgery (to repair the subscapular tendon in his left shoulder), to his rehab to tonight's culmination - his first bout since Dec. 2, 2006. On that night, he won a majority decision against Vitali Tsypko despite injuring the shoulder in the second round.

Tonight, Lacy (22-1, 17 KOs) faces Peter Manfredo Jr. (28-4, 13 KOs) on the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Ricky Hatton undercard at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Also on that card will be Wauchula's Edner Cherry (22-5-2, 10 KOs), who will face Wes Ferguson (17-2-1, 5 KOs), a fighter Cherry beat by unanimous decision in June.

The first sound of the ringside bell will mark one year to the day since Lacy had the surgery and began his respite from boxing.

Conversation of that hiatus is greeted with a smile and a relieving sigh.

"I think everything happens for a reason," said Lacy, sitting on a training table as his physical therapist, Chris Arrigo, treated both shoulders. "This year I've had out of boxing - out of sight, out of mind. It gave me time to really relax, and I haven't been able to do that since, wow, the 2000 Olympics. Right out of the Olympics, I went into my professional career and fought six times and no less than four times a year.

"This time off has really been good for me."

Lacy's trainer, Dan Birmingham, agrees.

"He was starting to burn out a little bit, because as soon as he turned pro, he didn't have longer that two or three or four weeks off," Birmingham said. "And now he's had a full year to reflect on everything, and he's really fresh physically and mentally."

A portion of that reflection takes Lacy back to Calzaghe. If he had it do over, Lacy admits, the fight would have been delayed by a couple of weeks.

During training, in which he admitted to having very few sharp days, he injured a muscle in his leg while shadow boxing, he dealt with relationship issues, he was burned out and making matters worse and he had issues with his former promoter.

It all proved a concoction for a bad night.

"You deal with it, but you don't know it's going to affect you until you're in there," Lacy said. "Once I threw my first two punches in that fight, it was like my energy from dealing with everything, everything I brought into that ring on my shoulders that night came out. That was the reason for my not showing up. I was there, but I didn't show up."

Sparring partner Akinyemi Laleye has witness the gains made by Lacy, who was able to fully unleash his left hook six weeks into training.

"He's looking very good, very strong, throwing his punches in bunches, good hand speed," Laleye said. "He's back."

And he's ready to change the minds of those who doubt him.

"I kid you not, that chapter was the first chapter of my boxing career, and I feel like everything I've done in the past up until now is nothing ... compared to the second chapter," Lacy said. "I mentally and physically feel so much stronger and more stable as a person. It's going to be exciting."

Reporter Eddie Daniels can be reached at (813) 948-4214 or edaniels@tampatrib.com.

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