Jeff Lacy beat Otis Griffin via 10-round unanimous decision last night, but Griffin felt he won the bout:
Lacy (25-2) had to overcome swelling around both his eyes the final three rounds, closing the eighth and ninth with strong flurries. In the 10th, both fighters landed big punches, with Griffin (19-5-2) closing the round with two uppercuts and Lacy connected with a straight right.
Two judges scored the fight 96-94 and 97-93 for Lacy, while the third had it a draw.
"I have to give it up to Griffin for a tough fight," Lacy said.
Afterward, Lacy called out former pound-for-pound champ Roy Jones Jr., who was sitting in attendance but didn't give an immediate answer.
"I would love to fight Roy Jones Jr., anytime, here in Tampa," Lacy said.
Griffin thought he was the winner and lobbied for himself to fight Jones this summer.
"It's a shame that in this sport you can get robbed in somebody's hometown," Griffin said. "I was landing the harder, cleaner punches throughout the fight. Roy should be fighting me."
The thing is, this is AP copy, you know? The news story notes that it appeared "Griffin took over in the middle rounds."
Jeff Lacy is just not the fighter people thought he was, and what's more, at this point he's nowhere even close to that guy. He's not only not a top super middleweight or light heavyweight, he's really not even a fringe contender. He has a nice-looking won-lost record, and he's only ever lost to world class fighters (Calzaghe and Taylor), but he lost badly to both and those are the only top guys he's ever fought.
If he does land a fight with 40-year old Roy Jones, I'd pick Jones and not think twice. Lacy is so lumbering that he really presents even less of a threat than Sheika did. Sure if Lacy was able to wind up and land a couple, he could floor old Roy, but I don't think he has the speed to do it, and his power's not what it used to be either.
This is just another fight where Jeff Lacy has struggled against a guy he, on paper, should be wiping the mat with. If anyone has any Lacy hopes yet, it's probably time to give 'em up. I mean absolutely no disrespect to the guy, but he's a glorified, upper tier club fighter at this point.