By Richard McManus

On Saturday night, the town known as “Pittsburgh without the glamour”, also known as Manchester, England, will play host to a widely anticipated Super Middleweight showdown that promises to answer several questions for the hardcore boxing public. 

WBO belt holder and pretty good Super Middleweight, Joe Calzaghe (40-0, 31 KO) will put his undefeated record and 168-pound belt on the line against the rising star and undefeated Super Middleweight and IBF belt holder, Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy (21-0, 17 KO).  It’s interesting to note that despite Lacy’s nickname, Calzaghe is the southpaw in the fight and Lacy is probably more known for doing damage to his opponents with his right hook.

The fight will be televised live on this side of the pond at the boxing hour of 9PM ET, giving the British fight fans in attendence more time to celebrate.  The fighters are scheduled to touch gloves shortly after 2AM local Manchester time on Sunday morning. 

It is a unification bout of sorts for those who consider Calzaghe’s WBO belt to be a legitimate world championship belt as Lacy holds the IBF 168-pound belt.  Regardless of whether or not you consider the WBO to be a legitimate world boxing sanctioning body, credit has to go to Calzaghe who has 17 consecutive successful title defenses and is more or less considered the top Super Middleweight in the world. 

As an aside, it should be mentioned that in Europe the WBO belt is taken a bit more seriously than it is in this country where it is looked at as something slightly above costume jewelry.  But I digress.  But at this point, what do belts really matter?  Calzaghe is the man at 168 until somebody beats him. 

He’s a tough fighter who has built up a nice looking record albeit in a division that has not only lacked big name fighters but at times has even appeared to lack good fighters.  His biggest win came way back in 1997 when he decisioned Chris Eubank in a fight that was huge in England but barely made a blip on the boxing radar in this country.  At the time of the Eubank-Calzaghe fight “The Prince” Naseem Hamed was garnering most of the European-oriented American press.

Calzaghe also boasts knockout wins over Omar Shieka in 2000 (KO5) and Byron Mitchell in 2003 (KO2).  The Mitchell fight is noteworthy because it was a fight in which the combatants traded knockdowns in the second round, with Calzaghe hitting the deck first.  After a few tense moments where it looked as if the Calzaghe Express had been derailed, Joe decked Mitchell and ended the fight for real.  The Shieka fight is noteworthy because well, it was against Omar Shieka. 

In 2004, Calzaghe won a hard fought decision against the little known contender Kabary Salem.  Calzaghe was again down early in that fight (3rd round) and he had Salem on the floor late (12th round).  Joe won a unanimous decision in that fight even after being penalized a point in the 11th for intentionally head butting Salem. 

Omar Shieka is a common opponent shared by the two foes on Saturday night.  Based solely on the common opponent of Shieka, Calzaghe would appear to have a strong advantage in this fight.  Lacy got a hold of Shieka in 2004, 4 years after Joe Calzaghe obliterated him with a devastating 5th round stoppage.  Lacy did win though, escaping the Shieka fight with a close but unanimous decision. 

Some of Lacy’s other noteworthy wins have been against the likes of Scott Pemberton (KO2) and Syd Vanderpool (TKO8).  The Vanderpool fight was for the vacant IBF Super Middleweight belt and after obtaining the belt with a victory in that fight Lacy has defended it four times, three by KO.  The one distance fight was the aforementioned bout with Omar Shieka.

So what is this fight going to look like?  Is Lacy taking Calzaghe as seriously as he should?  Will Calzaghe’s unorthodox southpaw style pose any problems for the straight ahead Lacy?  Does Calzaghe have enough left in the tank to deal with the younger, hungrier man?  How will Lacy react when confronted with a confident champion?  These are all questions that will be answered one way or another on Saturday night.

Lacy has been groomed his entire professional career for this fight.  If he can pull out a win he’ll suddenly find himself on top of a division with very few potential challengers in sight.  To win the fight though, Lacy is going to have to move Calzaghe back while at the same time finding a way to deal with Calzaghe’s southpaw style.  That might prove to be a lot tougher than it sounds and it actually sound pretty tough.

Most experts see the advantage leaning in Lacy’s direction and expect his superior punching power and sheer strength to be enough to put him at a distinct advantage.  But it remains to be seen what will happen when he faces a guy that has also come to win.   

However, if Calzaghe can pull it out, particularly if he does so in dramatic fashion as he has done in some of his past fights, he’ll probably have to be regarded as the best 168-pound fighter of at least this generation.  So far he has knocked back all comers and a 40-0 record as a professional boxer isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world to obtain, even in the 168-pound division. 

Calzaghe’s brand of aggressiveness and southpaw punching style should pose problems for Lacy.  He knows how to win and knows how to pull the rod out of the fire.  Lacy also knows how to win but it remains to be seen if he can deal with the pressure of Calzaghe.

With all this said, don’t be too surprised if Calzaghe proves to be too much for Lacy on Saturday night.

Contact Richard at rmcm12@hotmail.com