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Lacy Maintains Stance About Meeting Tarver

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By EDDIE DANIELS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 18, 2008

TAMPA - Jeff Lacy remains firm in his stance against fighting Antonio Tarver on April 12 at the Forum.

It has plenty to do with Tarver's relationship with Gary Shaw, the promoter Lacy fired in 2006. Another reason was his performance against Peter Manfredo Jr. on Dec. 8 in Las Vegas.

The side effect of Lacy's rehabilitation of his surgically repaired left shoulder was a buildup of muscle. That bulkiness proved problematic for Lacy in that 10-round, unanimous-decision victory.

"My muscles were big instead of being flexible," Lacy said days after the fight. "As the fight went long, I had no body fat, so it really tired me out to the point that when I was throwing punches, everything felt heavy."

Lacy reiterated his stance regarding the proposed Tarver fight to Boxingtalk.com. He said Tarver is calling his name now because of the ring rust and Lacy's need to retrain for lean, quick-twitch muscle.

With a Lacy-Tarver fight likely off the table, Tarver has focused in on Clinton Woods or Danny Greene. If Tarver wins that, he says he'll fight the winner of the Chad Dawson-Glen Johnson fight, which is on the undercard of the April 12 fight at the Forum.

A KNOCKOUT, PERIOD: Roy Jones Jr. (51-4, 38 KOs) isn't interested in anything past the fourth round of Saturday's HBO Pay-Per-View match against Felix "Tito" Trinidad (42-2, 25 KOs) at Madison Square Garden in New York.

"He's got to go," Jones said. "He's got to go in four. Just to win the fight would not be good enough for me at this time. He has to go.

"I really don't care when, he's just got to go. The way I see it, Bernard Hopkins is not as good as me, Oscar De La Hoya is not as good as me. Fernando Vargas? Not as good as me. None of those guys can be my equal, and they stopped Trinidad."

Jones' last knockout was Sept. 7, 2002, against Clinton Woods. In Jones' seven bouts since, he has been knocked out three times.

So as far as Trinidad is concerned, those threats are hot air.

"I think he is going to be embarrassed," Trinidad said in response to Jones' knockout talk.

"It is a promise that he will not be able to fulfill. He is just one more fighter to say something like that. It does not matter to me at all what he says."

This will be the first fight for Trinidad since St. Petersburg's Winky Wright dominated him in a unanimous-decision victory May 14, 2005. Two days later, Trinidad announced his retirement.

MMA ACTION: The Tampa Terrors of the Bonecrunch Fighting league won each of their five bouts against the Port St. Lucie Devils last week in Lakeland, advancing to the league's April 5 semifinals at Sarasota's Robarts Arena.

Gilberto Burgoswon by decision; John Turner collected a tapout 53 seconds into the first round via an arm bar on Ralph Acosta; and Joe Wissman and Miguel Shoffner earned first-round victories. Alonzo Roane earned a submission victory when he caught Joe Stutzman in a front choke hold in the third round.

Tampa will face the winner of the Feb. 9 bout between the Sarasota Slammers and Miami Crazy Wolves.

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