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Lacy putting on game face for tonight's bout

By EDDIE DANIELS

edaniels@tampatrib.com

Published: April 10, 2009

PINELLAS PARK - Just beyond the glass front desk inside the Ultimate Fighting School, owner Ali Tareh switched off the waning radio reception on the large surround-sound unit.

Tareh slid a DVD into the player and, moments later, the frantic guitar riffs of Carlos Santana slashed through the muggy air inside the gym.

It seemed the perfect prelude.

St. Petersburg super middleweight Jeff "Left Hook" Lacy and trainer Roger Bloodworth, in the center of the gym and just feet from the boxing ring, began working on jabs, combinations and feints. Each blow overshadowed the energetic pace of music in the background.

When Lacy (24-2, 17 KOs) enters the ring tonight at the USF Sun Dome to face Otis Griffin (19-4-2, 7 KOs) of Sacramento, Calif., it's that level of energy Lacy wants to replicate.

He admits that when he faced friend Jermain Taylor in November in a WBC title eliminator, that vigor wasn't there. For some time leading up to that fight, which Taylor won by unanimous decision, Lacy and Taylor shared the same hotel and often ran into each other.

The interaction was friendly and not that of adversaries.

"I don't know Griffin that way, so basically it's going to be a fight like I want it to be," said Lacy, who was an invited guest to Taylor's 2003 wedding. "It was my first time ever facing someone that close. ... It was very difficult to get into a fight mode.

"Weeks before the fight is when you get yourself mentally ready for battle, and it was hard for me. If you go back and look at the fight between me and Jermain Taylor, I was so passive. The aggressiveness didn't come out of me in that I fight and basically, I allowed him to hold me because I felt I was pushing the fight."

Every time Lacy's glove crashed into the mitts on Bloodworth's hands, it seemed an effort to distance himself from November's performance.

"I think he learned a valuable lesson in that fight," Bloodworth said. "When you step through the ropes, you have to make it business, but that fight's over. There's nothing you can do about that. The only thing he can do from this point forward is improve, and I think you're going to see a lot of improvement.

"I'm really looking forward to this fight myself because if it goes the way I think it's going to go, I think people are going to see Jeff Lacy doing things he hasn't done in a few years."

Griffin, who gained a taste of stardom after winning Oscar De La Hoya's "The Next Great Champ" reality television show in 2004, has lost three of his last four bouts, each loss coming by knockout. The former NABA light heavyweight champ, dubbed "Triple OG," is eager to make this more than just a comeback fight.

"I am the Cinderella Man and Lacy is going to be my Corn Griffin," said Griffin, as quoted by Eastside Boxing. "For the first time, I have had a perfect camp. ... I have had great sparring at the Wild Card in L.A. with the likes of Vanes Martirosyan and in camp with top middleweight prospect Brandon Gonzalez. Both guys are much faster than Jeff is going to be."

Reporter Eddie Daniels can be reached at (813) 948-4214.

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