Roy Jones Jr. dominated Jeff Lacy on Saturday night in Mississippi. But did he prove anything meaningful? (Photo via Tampa Tribune / Associated Press)

View full size photo »

Take nothing away from Roy Jones Jr.'s win over Jeff Lacy on Saturday night, and I mean that. Just don't put too much stock into it, either.

No, call it what it was: Jones, at 40, still fast enough, still strong enough, still good enough to rout, demoralize and outright embarrass the 32-year old Lacy, a fellow Floridian and one-time member of boxing's elite. That distinction has turned out to be a fabrication that was ended by Joe Calzaghe three years ago, and has now been completely stamped for delivery into oblivion by the ancient "Captain Hook," a nickname Jones gave himself in order to promote this latest second-rate pay-per-view attraction.

Should he ride out now, glorious in victory, dominant against an inferior? Maybe, maybe not. Jones has only taken real punishment a few times in his long, Canastota-bound career. Antonio Tarver gave him trouble once, knocked him out early the second time they met, and beat him over the distance in the rubber match. Glen Johnson seemed to beat the last shred of willpower out of Jones years ago, prior even to the third Tarver bout. And Calzaghe took Jones back to school last November in a one-sided beatdown that featured Jones' first real cut.

Will Jones ride out? Of course he won't.

No, for Jones there is always going to be something out there. Make no mistake about it, Roy Jones has some of the best fans in boxing. He appeals to the diehards, as many of us that are around now came of age as boxing fans during the peak of his powers, when he was an awe-inspiring athlete who did in boxing rings what Michael Jordan might have done in his prime against the collegiate All-Americans. He also has fans on a very local, very heartfelt level. And the older he's gotten, the more his ego has calmed, and the harder he's tried to be a man of the people.

One thing is almost certain, and that's that Jones will next fight Australian Danny Green in the land of Men at Work and Crocodile Dundee late this year. Green won a useless cruiserweight trinket on the "Hook City" undercard, and for Jones it would be a chance to call himself "cruiserweight champion," a claim roughly as bogus as the idea that Jones beating the likes of Lacy means he's "back" in any meaningful way.

Jones can't come "back." He's too old. It's not any knock against him at all. Time takes its toll. As great as we think Bernard Hopkins still is -- and he's great -- he's not at his peak, and he will never be that guy again. Roy stays in peak condition still, trains hard, and seems to truly feel in his bones that he's doing what he should be doing. In that respect, I can hardly do anything but just wish him the best, and hope deep down in my Roy-lovin' heart that maybe, just maybe, he does something really special again.

But my fandom can't interfere with reality. The Lacy fight was another stay-busy affair, and Lacy proved so incompetent that even the puncher's chance I gave him proved to be way, way too big of a stretch. If anyone should be seriously considering a totally new career, it's Lacy, who has not looked good in a single one of his fights since the Calzaghe shellacking. Part of it has to do with injuries that took his best punch, part of it has to do with Calzaghe taking his aggressiveness and hiding it somewhere in Wales, and part of it is just that he was never as good as most thought.

Roy Jones beating Jeff Lacy means no more than Roy Jones beating a bloated Tito Trinidad, Anthony Hanshaw, Prince Badi Ajamu, or a semi-retired Omar Sheika. And he just might beat Green, too. Danny Green is a solid fighter, but limited, and Jones may yet be able to overwhelm him with speed and savvy.

If he does win, then who knows? Maybe he really has something cooking. Maybe he's getting an unbelievable second wind in a profession that barely offers a first breath for most of its competitors.

No, Jones over Lacy doesn't mean much of anything, if anything at all. But Roy's still going, and I'll be damned if he isn't making it last as long as he possibly can.

Nonito Donaire beat Rafael Concepcion by unanimous decision to win an interim paper super flyweight title.  Concepcion tried to keep things entertaining, backing up Donaire through most of the fight, and lunging in and occasionally finding Donaire with a fairly effective right hook.  While Donaire Did start off by coming forward occasionally, starting around round 5, he became content to mostly circle backwards and let Concepcion come at him, popping off counters and the occasional jab to earn a close but clear victory.  The judges scored the bout 115-113, 116-112 and 117-111; Bad Left Hook's official scorecard was 116-112 in favor of Donaire.  It wasn't exactly a performance that justified Donaire being ranked ahead of guys like Paul Williams and Chad Dawson in the pound for pound ratings, and Donaire seemed to take a step back technically, failing to throw his jab in circunstances where using it may have allowed him to completely control the fight.  Word is that this is just a stop on Donaire's way to 118, where he'd like to fight Jorge Arce or Fernando Montiel, both Top Rank fighters.  Based on what I saw of Donaire last night, I'd say he'd have his hands very full with Montiel.

The strangest moment of the night came in the bout between Steven Luevano and Bernabe Concepcion.  For 6 2/3 rounds, Luevano and Concepcion put up an abominable stinker of a fight. It was basically the featherweight verson of Klitschko-Ibragimov - Luevano continually popped out range finding jabs (landing absolutely nothing) to keep Concepcion off of him, while Concepcion danced around on the outside, and maybe two of three times a round, would try to pop in and rip off a quick combo (mostly missing).  After seven rounds, the two fighters COMBINED to land 100 punches, and frankly, that seemed generous.  Finally, with about 15 seconds left in the 7th round, a fight broke out.  Concepcion lunged in and nailed Luevano, who then fired back, and the two exchanged bombs.  With about a second left in the round, Concepcion appeared to hurt Luevano with a right hook.  The bell then rang, and with Luevano looking hurt and the referee not stepping in quickly, Concepcion ripped off a 1-2 combo that knocked Luevano out.  It seemed to me that it was a bit of an acting job that Luevano stayed on the ground for 3 minutes, but it was clearly a legitimate knockdown punch.  With Luevano unable to continue, referee Jay Nady was forced to call a disqualification.  Shameful, shameful Bob Arum, after the fight, said he'd schedule a rematch "with both fighters getting a raise" in December.  Personally, I'd rather have sex with a sandpaper tube than watch those two go at it again.

Roy Jones put on a clinic against Jeff Lacy in his main event, forcing Lacy's corner to stop the fight after the 10th round.  All night, Jones was able to outquick Lacy, and much like in his fight with Omar Sheika, he actually looked a little bit like vintage Roy against a MUCH slower and pretty well shot opponent.  Next up, Jones will be facing Danny Green, who won a minor cruiserweight paper title on the undercard, in Australia for that cruiserweight title.  Green certainly has the ability to give Jones his closest fight in a long time, and if Jones beats Green, it would be his best win since 2003.

Other results after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

 As many of you may know, Scott is getting married this weekend, meaning I'll be manning the helm on Saturday night.  Unfortunately, it's one of the two or three days a year that there are two different pay per view cards going on at the same time.  Rather than just picking one, let's try a little bit of democratic process to see which card you'd rather I provide round by round coverage for.  Of course, if I do one and you get the other, then feel free to provide your own round by round in the thread.  Here are the options:

Pinoy Power II - Nonito Donaire vs. Rafael Concepcion, vacant junior bantamweight title; Steven Luevano vs. Bernabe Concepcion, featherweight title; Mark Melligen vs. Michel Rosales, junior welterweights; Anthony Peterson vs. Luis Arceo, lightweights

Hook City - Roy Jones Jr. vs. Jeff Lacy, light heavyweights; Danny Green vs. Julio Cesar Dominguez, light heavyweights; BJ Flores vs. Epifanio Mendoza, cruiserweights; Jason Litzau vs. Verquan Kimbrough, lightweights

• 
  Great, just what we needed - more belts.  According to Fightnews, the WBC has announced that it will be giving out a new "diamond championship belt" for significant catchweight fights.  Since this particular belt is being made with 18 karat gold, about 600 diamonds, and other precious stones, it's a way to ensure that the WBC will get exorbitant amounts of fees from fighters putting together catchweight fights.  I needed to check my calendar to make sure it's not April 1.
• Here's a sad story about former champion Genaro Hernandez.  He's suffered from a number of malignant tumors recently, and between his illnesses and the bad market, doesn't have much left.  A number of people in the boxing community, including Akihito Honda, Bob Arum and Antonio Margarito, have helped to kick in for his treatments, and he says he'd probably be dead if not for their help.  At least it's nice to see his former promoters stepping in and doing the right thing.  A recent interview with Hernandez is also available here.
  
• The rest of the Roy Jones Jr. card has officially been filled out.  BJ Flores will be facing Epifanio Mendoza, and Jason Litzau will be facing Verquan Kimbrough.  It must be a bit of a disappointment for Kimbrough, who was originally slated to fight in Namibia for Paulus Moses' title a few weeks ago before needing to pull out.  And I just don't get Flores vs. Mendoza.  Here's an opponent who was fighting at super middleweight not that long ago, and he's another opponent with a big punch, a good chin and a low workrate.  I almost feel like Flores is intentionally trying to schedule boring fights.  Already scheduled was Danny Green vs. Julio Cesar Dominguez.
• I really hope that all this jawing between Celestino Caballero and Juan Manuel Lopez actually leads to a fight.  First, when Caballero's camp reached out to Lopez, they said they wanted a 7 figure payday, which is just absurd at the weight class (consider that Israel Vasquez and Rafael Marquez only got $1 million each for their third fight).  Caballero fired back by calling Lopez an overprotected fraud, and saying he'd "break his mouth" and head to Puerto Rico for a fight.  Lopez's manager fired back, saying he won't negotiate through the media.  Caballero reloaded with a pretty well-reasoned response, and said that if Lopez wants to enjoy a legacy similar to that of other Puerto Rican boxing heroes, he'll need to stop avoiding people, and the path to glory goees through Caballero.  I like Lopez a lot, but I have to agree here.  It's really starting to look like either Lopez is ducking Caballero, or Bob Arum is trying to keep Lopez away from Caballero with a 10-foot pole.  Either way, it's a shame, since this is probably one of the biggest and best fights that could be made in the smaller weight classes.  Food for thought - there are three other fighters in Lopez's weight class ranked in the pound for pound top 20, and he hasn't even come close to fighting any of them.
• More oddities in the Gatti story - evidently he changed his will to leave everything to his wife rather than his children only a couple of weeks before his purported suicide.
• There's a rumor that Pavlik-Williams is a done deal, and that we'll have an announcement later today.  We'll have a more complete story on this if I can confirm that the news is true.

Several classic Roy Jones Jr. bouts will be shown on ESPN Classic next week. There will also be some Jeff Lacy fights. Jones and Lacy meet August 15 on pay-per-view.

View full size photo »

I don't know that there's anything "classic" about Jeff Lacy's record past that beating he took from Joe Calzaghe, but it's nice that there's boxing on TV, and you've got to hand it to Jones and Lacy both: They've done the best job you could expect promoting their card.

Monday, Aug 10, 8 PM        Roy Jones, Jr vs. Glen Kelly (February 2, 2002)

 

Tuesday, Aug. 11, 8 PM       Roy Jones, Jr vs. Antonio Tarver (November 8, 2003)

 

Wednesday, Aug. 12, 8 PM  Roy Jones, Jr vs. John Ruiz (March 1, 2003)

 

Thursday, Aug. 13, 8 PM     Roy Jones, Jr vs. Felix Trinidad (January 19, 2008)

 

Friday, Aug. 14, 8 PM          Roy Jones, Jr vs. Omar Sheika (March 21, 2009)

 

Friday, Aug. 14, 8:30 PM     Jeff Lacy vs. Robin Reid (August 6, 2005)

 

Friday, Aug. 14, 9 PM          Jeff Lacy vs Anwar Oshana (May 17, 2003)

                                               

Saturday, Aug 15

1:15pm           Roy Jones, Jr vs. Glen Kelly (February 2, 2002)

 

2 PM               Jeff Lacy vs. Donnell Wiggins (December 13, 2003)

 

3 PM               Roy Jones, Jr vs. Omar Sheika (March 21, 2009)

 

3:30 PM          Jeff Lacy vs. Robin Reid (2005)

 

4 PM               Jeff Lacy vs. Richard Grant (July 15, 2003)

                                               

5 PM               Roy Jones, Jr vs. Antonio Tarver (November 8, 2003)

 

6 PM               Jeff Lacy vs. Epifanio Mendoza (2008)

 

7 PM               Roy Jones, Jr vs. John Ruiz (March 1, 2003)

 

8pm                 Roy Jones, Jr vs. Félix Trinidad (January 19, 2008)

Roy Jones Jr. and Jeff Lacy: Hey, you can't say they're not having fun with the hype.

View full size photo »

OK, so the August 15 pay-per-view fight between Floridians Roy Jones Jr. and Jeff Lacy isn't the biggest, most exciting or more important fight on the schedule. Sure, Jones is washed up and Lacy hasn't looked good in years.

But they're going to meet in a crossroads fight, and they're working hard to hype it up. At a presser in Biloxi, Miss., Jones and Lacy discussed their upcoming battle and Jones even dressed up as Captain Hook for "Hook City."

Said Jones:

"As you know, when I come, I bring it like I bring it. See that guy there taking pictures (Tom Casino), he's called me ‘Captain Hook' for years. I thought about it and said, well, my left is like a hook. What can I say? I was chosen for the challenge. When you're challenged, it's simple. A lot of guys in boxing do a lot of talking, but when it's time they don't step up to the plate. Jeff Lacy said he wants to fight Roy Jones and we'll get it on.

"I have the best left hook in the game. Jeff Lacy has a very good hook. So, when you get a challenge like that, how can you say no? You can't, not where I come from. I don't know any decent person who could, straight up. Me and Roger (trainer Bloodworth) have a long history together. I've watched Jeff a long time, too. I love watching him fight because he is exciting. He has power in both hands. He was labeled with that nickname but he has a very good right hand, too. I'm looking forward to a wonderful night. I'll be in shape, fab and fit. One thing, it'll be a war going on out there. If you can't be at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum, check it out on pay per view because it's going to be the battle of the hooks. Roy Jones, Jr., aka Captain Hook - the best hook in the business versus Jeff ‘Left Hook' Lacy, who thinks he has the best hook. We'll see."

From Lacy:

"I'd like to thank Roy Jones, Jr. for taking the challenge. I've always watched him. He's a great fighter. I'm glad to be one of the names on his roster. Too bad I'm going to be beating him. It still will be good to be on the roster.

"I've never been the type of person to do much talking. I do my talking in the ring. Come August 15th this fight is going to happen. Roy Jones agreed to it; I agreed to it. He's bringing his hook - calls himself ‘Captain Hook,' as you can see he's dressed up in a captain's uniform. I come as ‘Left Hook,' the original, and I'm going to show that. We're going to have a ‘Hook Night.'"

The fight will be available from iNDemand, TVN, DirecTV and Dish Network for $34.95. Featured on the undercard will be Danny Green (Jones' theoretical next opponent) against Julio Cesar Dominguez, plus cruiserweight contender BJ Flores. If you want to go live in Biloxi, tickets are on sale from $25-$150.

Roy Jones Jr. still has a lot of plans for the future if and when he gets by Jeff Lacy on August 15.

View full size photo »

T.K. Stewart of BoxingScene.com spoke with Roy Jones Jr. about his August 15 fight with Jeff Lacy, how that came about, and his plans for the future, of which there appears to be no shortage.

The 40-year old Jones (53-5, 39 KO) came off of the second-worst beating of his career in November 2008 against Joe Calzaghe to return to the ring in March with a ho-hum, easy victory over washed-out veteran Omar Sheika, who himself hadn't fought in over a year. But the show was memorable in its own way: March Badness generated a lot of interest from curious MMA fans (it remains the most active round-by-round thread we've ever had at Bad Left Hook, with Hatton-Pacquiao at No. 2) and it got people talking about Roy again.

Lacy is a step up, and I think Roy knows that. But Lacy himself is faded, probably always was a little overrated, and Roy says he didn't go looking for that fight, it came to him:

"I never chased him at all. He invited me to Tampa to his fight with Otis Griffin, and I sat there and watched it and then after that, before you know it, we in a fight. I never picked Jeff Lacy, he picked me. He grabbed the microphone after the fight was over and told everyone in the crowd he wanted to fight me. So there it is."

Jones also expresses distaste for Lacy calling himself the game's best "hooker" (that's fun to type), when Jones himself is the greatest "hooker" in the history of the sport. Lacy doesn't really say much about his left hook anymore, so this is just a weak attempt to create some intrigue, because since his injuries Lacy can barely even throw the left hook at this point.

Roy also says he'd like to fight both Bernard Hopkins (whom he beat nearly 17 years ago) and Glen Johnson (who gave him the worst beating of his career in 2004) again, but that the last time he talked to Bernard about their long-awaited, now sort of groaningly avoided rematch, he offered a split of 60 to the winner, 40 to the loser, and they didn't go past that.

His worst idea is the one where he considers fighting one of the Klitschkos. I don't think either of them are vicious enough to get some horrible situation where they're beating him into oblivion, but Roy would get demolished by either of them. Roy in his prime against a fighter like one of them instead of John Ruiz would've been very interesting, though. All I'm saying is Roy's a 40-year old light heavyweight whose best assets are dried out.

I also want to say something else about Roy. I know most of the time we talk Jones here at BLH, it's either reminiscing about his great years or bemoaning his current days as an active fighter, and I still think these Sheika and Lacy fights are time-wasters, easy fights by design meant to kickstart him back into a money fight where he can't hang, building up that "Roy is BACK!" talk like it's ever going to be 1999 again and he's going to start dropping dudes on punches coming from behind his back.

But I don't mind when he "calls out" guys like this, or talks about fighting the Klitschkos or Johnson or Hopkins, and it's because I think if the offers came, he would fight each and every one of them. He fought Calzaghe and had to be aware he was a massive underdog and that it would've taken one of his greatest performances ever to score the upset. He did it for money, sure, but he also did it to try to compete on the highest level. And I think he's genuine about that. I don't personally feel he has much of a shot at getting back to the top of the mountain, but I still maintain my respect for Roy Jones as a fighter. I just don't think he's particularly good anymore, because he's old. It happens to everyone.

According to the Tampa Tribune, the Roy Jones Jr.-Jeff Lacy fight is signed:

Last weekend, former IBF super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy said a deal for him to face Roy Jones Jr. this summer was "90 percent done."

That 10-percent gap closed Wednesday as Lacy signed to fight the eight-time world champion, likely Aug. 22 at a site to be determined.

Because no deal could be made with a television network, the fight will be on pay-per-view.

"It's all on ink - now they just have to ring the bell," said Lacy, of St. Petersburg. "This is great. It's my second promotion under my own banner and I get to co-promote a huge fight with me and Roy Jones. Second fight out, it can't get any better than that."

I'm getting married August 15 and was hoping they could put this fight on that date, so that I wouldn't pay for it. Sadly, this likely means I will.

I still think this is an ugly matchup for Jones, who won't deter Lacy at all and doesn't take punches particularly well.