By Frank Lotierzo

 

Lacy's (21-0, 17 KOs) victory over Robert Pemberton (29-4-1, 24 KOs) marks his fourth consecutive defense of his IBF Super Middleweight title since winning it in October 2004. Omar Shieka is the only challenger went the distance with Jeff "left-hook" Lacy. The reason Pemberton was in position to challenge Lacy for the title were his back-to-back victories (W-SD, TKO-10) over Shieka.

 

Lacy is known for his 'left hook', but it was his right hand that earned him a two round knockout over Pemberton. Lacy's power advantage was apparent in the first round as he pushed Pemberton back with bludgeoning power punches. In the second round a Lacy' bomb put Pemberton down to the mat. He was able to make it up to his feet, but moments later, a crushing right hand from Lacy sent Pemberton crumbling down to the canvas face-first. The referee immediately stopped the fight once Pemberton crashed to the mat and appeared seriously hurt.

 

This was a must win fight for Lacy since he is tentatively scheduled to meet undefeated WBO Super middleweight champ Joe Calzaghe (40-0) sometime before Spring 2006. Lacy, who's signature punch is his big left-hook. His swarming style is reminiscent to former heavyweight champion "Smokin" Joe Frazier. Also like Frazier, Lacy applies constant pressure from bell-to-bell regardless of who the opponent is. Sometimes fighters with a swarming style like Lacy don't receive credit for being a thinking fighter. However, Lacy is becoming more of a thinking fighter every time out. He doesn't come in recklessly and is feinting and moving his head more as he's progressing, which will pay dividends against Calzaghe.

 

I say this because when he fights Calzaghe, he'll need to get inside in order to be effective with his left hook. Making Calzaghe miss as he tries to force him back will serve him in a big way. By slipping Calzaghe's jab making him miss, it will be easier for Lacy to fight inside against him. If he makes Calzaghe miss with any type of frequency, he may cause Calzaghe to become tentative when he does let his hands go. It will also provide Lacy a chance to step of the pressure during the fight. The last thing Calzaghe needs to allow to happen is for Lacy to sense the slightest bit of trepidation in his attack.

 

The one thing Lacy needs to improve on is his ability to make his opponent pay after making them miss him with their lead punches. This takes years to learn and it's not something all fighters can learn. It takes great stamina and athletic ability to implement this to a fighters arsenal. Making the opponent miss is great and extends a fighters career. But a fighter only gets the maximum return from doing it by making his opponent pay by him scoring off the missed punches. This was something that Joe Frazier excelled at aided him in being effective in all three of his fights with Muhammad Ali.

 

Lacy is starting to smoke and is really becoming an exciting fighter to watch in the ring. If Lacy can beat Calzaghe in the biggest fight in the Super middleweight division since Jones vs. Toney, boxing will have a new star.

On the undercard, IBF bantamweight champion Rafael Marquez (35-3, 31 KOs) continued his domination of the bantamweight division by stopping Silence Mabuza (18-1, 15 KOs) in four rounds.

 

In the first round, Marquez came out very fast by using his jab as a range finder to land his harder shots. A short left hook from Marquez put Mabuza down to the mat for the first time in his career. Prior to this fight, Mabuza had never been down in 18 professional fights or 475 amateur fights. Mabuza made it his feet, but was in bad shape. Marquez went back on the attack, but was unable to put his opponent away as time ran out in the round.

 

The next couple of rounds showed the heart of Mabuza as he stayed calm and began to land occasional hard right hands. Marquez would counter Mabuza's right hand with a combination of his lead right, left hook and bodyshots.

 

After three rounds, the power of Marquez was showing on the face of Mabuza, as the challenger from Africa had a cut over his right eye and a cut under his left eye. The referee called a halt to the action in the middle of the fourth round to have a ring physician check the cut over the right of Mabuza. Based on the seriousness of Mabuza's cut over his right eye, the ring doctor felt it was too dangerous to let Mabuza continue fighting and instructed the referee to stop the fight.

 

With the win, Marquez picks up Mabuza's IBO bantamweight title.