by Jeremy "Fasttalker" Bjornberg - 08/12/2005
Young 168-pound champion Jeff Lacy disposed of Brit Robin Reid last weekend. Reid was considered a very live underdog but Doc's was correct in realizing he wouldn't be able to handle the young Lacy.
Reid had never been down before in a long and distinguished career but went down four times until the fight was stopped after Round seven. Reid was dirty from the beginning, starting with a rabbit punch and climaxed by a head butt in round five. After Reid head butted Lacy the referee stepped in and Reid put his hands down and was put down by a Lacy overhand right.
The referee elected to not only call it a knockdown but also take a point away from Reid. Reid was also fouled a bit by Lacy but the referee looked away blindly. Reid started to lose his legs after round 5 and instead of sticking and moving, he was holding and grappling. Lacy was able to take advantage with his brute strength and started to tee off on Reid with both hands. Reid was really fading as he was unable to do anything to keep Lacy off of him.
The home crowd was frantic during both Round 6 and 7. Reid took a trip to the canvas in both and was pulverized with an uppercut at the end of Round 7. Reid crawled up but looked like a beaten man. Reid's corner then told the referee to stop the fight. Lacy is now set to fight longtime WBO champ Joe Calzaghe. Lacy will reportedly travel to Wales to do it. It is sure to be the most important fight at 168 since Roy Jones Jr. beat James Toney.
This coming weekend offers a fantastic Don King card in Chicago to be broadcast on Showtime. The headliner is a matchup between Monte Barrett and Hasim Rahman. The winner will fight linear heavyweight champ Vitali Klitschko. Doc's has done a lot of investigation on this pick to uncover the best possible value. The undercard features a crossroads fight between Ricardo Mayorga and Michele Piccirilo at 154. Alejandro Garcia and Luis Collazo also fight in decent matchups, Andrew Golota pulled out with an injury, but it is probably for the best. I have seen Golota live twice and he quit in both, so I wasn't expecting much from that psychological nightmare anyways.
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