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New Venture For Jeff Lacy

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By EDDIE DANIELS

edaniels@tampatrib.com

Published: March 6, 2009

TAMPA - Last summer, as thoughts of retirement floated through his mind, St. Petersburg native Jeff "Left Hook" Lacy threw something out there: What if he formed his own boxing promotion company?

It's no longer an idle contemplation. Left Hook Promotions has been formed and Lacy will headline the company's first event April 10 at the USF Sun Dome.

"The toughest part was to go out and do it and not just talk about doing it," said Lacy, the former IBF and IBO super middleweight champion. "I've talked about doing things before and never got around to me putting my foot in the cement and carving my name."

Although an opponent won't be named until possibly this weekend or at the beginning of next week, this will be the first fight for Lacy (24-2, 17 KOs) in the Bay area since his December 2006 fight against Vitali Tsypko at the St. Pete Times Forum.

This also will be Lacy's first fight since November's 12-round unanimous-decision loss to friend Jermaine Taylor in Nashville, Tenn. That was the last of three fights for Lacy under the Golden Boy flag.

"The last couple of promoters that I've had around me ... a lot of things didn't sit comfortably," Lacy said. "I had a vision of going out and doing things in a different way. They felt they wanted to do things their way. The way I saw it was, I'm the fighter. I saw things a little bit differently, but when I'm signed to them, I have to live up to my obligations that were in the contract."

The undercard of April's event, dubbed "Homecoming," will feature heavyweight Lenroy Thomas (11-1, 7 KOs), St. Petersburg featherweight Kermit Gonzalez (6-0-1, 3 KOs), St. Petersburg middleweight Ahsandi Gibbs (10-0, 4 KOs) and Adawirky Lopez (3-1), a rising female star from Tampa.

Longtime Tampa promoter Terry Trekas, head of One Punch Productions, will co-promote the event.

Trekas isn't the only one giving a helping hand in Lacy's startup. Chrysler, Courtside Grille, Everlast, J-Con Salon, Lifestyle Family Fitness, Superior Auto Body and Ker's WingHouse are a few of the others, giving support as sponsors.

Tickets, which go on sale Saturday at Ticketmaster locations and the Sun Dome box office, range from $18.50 to $200.

"They're very affordable," Lacy said. "I'm not trying to make crazy money. ... I priced all of the tickets very affordable because of the way the economy is."

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

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