Jeffrey Scott Lacy (born May 12, 1977, in St. Petersburg, Florida) is an American boxer. He is a former International Boxing Federation super middleweight champion.

JEFF LACY TICKETS Monster Jam Tickets The Harlem Globetrotters Los Angeles Lakers Tickets Chicago Bulls Tickets New York Knicks Tickets Boston Celtics Tickets

Amateur career

Lacy had 210 fights as an amateur, winning the 1999 National PAL amateur champion at 165 pounds, the 1998 U.S. National amateur champion at 165 pounds, and the 1998 National PAL amateur champion at 165 pounds. Lacy fought at the 1996 Eastern Olympic Trials, stopping Kenneth Head in the first round. In the quarter-finals, Lacy defeated Rubin Williams. In the semi-finals, Lacy lost to Darnell Wilson and finished third.

In the 1997 National Golden Gloves, Lacy again defeated Rubin Williams, but lost against Randy Griffin in the semi-finals and finished in third place. In the quarter-finals of the 2000 Olympic Team trials, Lacy won a decision over Brad Austin. In the semi-finals, Lacy won a decision over Jerson Ravelo. During the finals, Lacy won a 26-10 decision over Randy Griffin.

During the 2000 Olympic Team Box-offs, Lacy lost to Arthur Palac. In his second fight, Lacy defeated him on the scorecards. He was a member of the 2000 United States Olympic boxing team along with future undisputed middleweight champion Jermain Taylor. During his first bout in Sydney, Australia, Lacy knocked out Cleiton Conceição of Brazil at 0:58 of the third round. During his second bout, Lacy defeated Pawel Kakietek of Poland, en route to a 21-7 decision. During the third bout, Lacy was stopped at 1:49 of the third round by Gaidarbek Gaidarbekov of Russia.

Professional career

Rise to stardom

Lacy made his professional debut against Jerald Lowe on February 2, 2001, knocking him out in the first round. He won his next seven fights by way of knockout and won the WBC Continental Americas super middleweight title against Anwar Oshana, by way of technical knockout in round two.

On December 13, 2003, he won the USBA and NABA super middleweight titles after stopping Donnell Wiggins in round eight. He won the IBF super middleweight title on October 2, 2004, when he defeated Syd Vanderpool. He defended it against Omar Sheika, Rubin Williams, former champion Robin Reid, and Scott Pemberton.

Loss to Joe Calzaghe

On March 5, 2006, at the MEN Arena in Manchester, England, Lacy lost his title to Joe Calzaghe. Despite being a very heavy favourite going into the fight, Lacy lost by a unanimous points decision and was knocked down in the twelfth round. The fight was extremely one sided with scores of 119-105, 119-107 and 119-107. A point deducted from Calzaghe in the 11th round was all that prevented Lacy from losing every round on every card.

After Calzaghe

Lacy was never the same fighter again but fought a rematch with Vitali Tsypko on December 2, 2006, in Tampa, Florida, on the same card as Winky Wright's fight against Ike Quartey. This was the second time he had fought Tsypko, the first fight in 2004 which ended in a no-decision. Lacy won a very close fight by scores of 96-94, 96-94, 95-95. After the bout, it was revealed that Lacy had torn his rotator cuff and was injured throughout most of the fight. Lacy had surgery on the injury and did not fight for a year after the bout.

Lacy returned on December 8, 2007, to defeat Peter Manfredo Jr. by a unanimous decision. On July 23, 2008, beat Epifanio Mendoza by a majority decision. Lacy then fought former world middleweight champion Jermain Taylor on November 15, 2008, and lost the fight by unanimous decision ^[1], making it only the second loss of his career.

On April 10, 2009, Jeff Lacy defeated Otis Griffin. In his last bout, Lacy suffered a technical knockout on August 15, 2009, after his corner stopped his bout with Roy Jones Jr. after the 10th round.

References

1. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gXU9lL0mAC-bsQ4r9fb5zyuxFUIgD94FREP00