Round by Round: Taylor v. Lacy

Between the rounds of the Calzaghe-Jones replay, Larry Merchant interviews Jeff Lacy. Lacy says that he learned some of Jermain's techniques from watching his fights with Pavlik, mainly that he throws two or three jabs before his hard right hand. Merchant asks him if he wants to beat up Taylor, his old Olympic partner. Lacy says that this fight is business and they have to put their past to the side for now.

Merchant now sits down with Taylor. Taylor says that after his losses to Pavlik, he was able to take some time off and get his love for boxing back. He says he had mixed feelings seeing Hopkins beat Pavlik the way he did. Taylor says that it showed that styles make fights. He adds that he will have to beat Lacy and look good doing it to get his career back where he wants it.

After a long wait, the fighters enter the ring. Tonight's fight between Taylor and Lacy is at 168 pounds. Lacy is 24-1 with 17 KOs and Taylor is 27-2 with 17 KOs. Lacy comes out to "Lose Yourself" by Eminem, while Taylor enters to "Put On" by Young Jeezy.

The intros are finished and it's time for the fight.

Round One:
Taylor throws the first punch and it's a jab that Lacy blocks. Not much action for the first 30 seconds. Lacy throws a jab and follows with a straight right. Taylor blocks them. Taylor lands two solid shots upstairs and Lacy backs slightly. Taylor counter-punches and lands with a right hook. Taylor is landing the cleaner shots so far. Taylor is tagging Lacy as soon as he comes in.

Spartan117: 10-9 Taylor
Uatu: 10-9 Taylor

Round Two:
Both fighters are using a lot of movement, lots of toe bouncing. Lacy stays active and throws two head shots; one lands. Lacy lands a double jab and a hard right. Both trade hard haymakers but most get blocked by both fighters. Lacy is taking the majority of clean punches in this round as well. Lacy comes forward and throws a hard straight right but Taylor blocks it. Taylor lands a good jab. Taylor lands a great right hook before the bell.

Spartan117: 10-9 Taylor
Uatu: 10-9 Taylor

Round Three:
Lacy starts to work the body, forcing Taylor to back up. Lacy blocks two hooks from Taylor. Lacy backs Taylor in the corner but Taylor gets away. Lacy chases Taylor around the ring trying to land power shots but Taylor gets away again. Taylor lands a solid uppercut. Taylor is using good footwork. Taylor lands a huge left jab and right cross that wobble Lacy. Lacy grapples to stay alive, but he still doesn't have his legs back. Lacy uses enough defense to make it out of the round.

Spartan117: 10-9 Taylor
Uatu: 10-9 Taylor

Round Four:
Lacy looks OK now and throws a left and right to the head of Taylor. Taylor blocks both of them. Taylor unleashes a six-punch combo to the head and body, though Lacy blocks most of it. Taylor has Lacy on the defensive. Lacy now comes in leading with the jab. Despite being wobbled in the last round, Lacy is not backing off. Taylor lands a huge left and right combo that brings the crowd to its feet. Lacy grapples to stay on his feet. Lacy doesn't stop throwing but Taylor blocks everything coming in.

Spartan117: 10-9 Taylor
Uatu: 10-9 Taylor

Round Five:
Neither fighter does much in the first 30 seconds. Lacy puts the pressure on Taylor and lands a good right hook. Lacy lands a right hand counter and Taylor goes down. Taylor shakes his head and the ref calls it a slip, but it looked like a clear knockdown to me. Taylor is clinching now. Lacy keeps the punch output high and lands solid shots while Taylor is against the ropes. Taylor fights back and lands a good left and right combo. Lots of clinching going on now. Lacy fights back and lands a huge right hand that sends Taylor backpedaling across the ring. The bell stops the action.
Spartan117: 10-9 Lacy
Uatu: 10-9 Lacy

Round Six:
Taylor lands a jab at the start of the round. Taylor starts to clinch again. Taylor goes back to the jab. Lacy lands a nice left hook. The fight is now less technical and gets closer to a brawl. Even more clinching now. Taylor comes in with a wide right hook that misses. Lacy comes into a left straight by Taylor. The fighters go back to clinching but they now do a better job of fighting out of it.

Spartan117: 10-9 Lacy
Uatu: 10-9 Taylor

Round Seven:
Lacy isn't throwing a lot of combinations. He's coming in with the jab and follows with the straight right every time. Taylor is still throwing combinations and good counter-punches. Lacy comes into a huge Taylor uppercut and the crowd reacts. Lacy fights through it. Lacy comes into another straight. Lacy lands a good right. Lacy continues to get hit while coming forward.

Spartan117: 10-9 Taylor
Uatu: 10-9 Taylor

Round Eight:
Lacy has been fighting with the same style the whole fight now: come forward with the jab and follow with a straight right. Taylor is doing well by hitting Lacy with hard shots every time he comes forward. Taylor throws and lands a great combination to the head of his opponent. Lacy loads up a left hook but misses. Taylor's defense looks very good as he blocks Lacy's shots. Taylor lands a big right-left combo right before the bell.

Spartan117: 10-9 Taylor
Uatu: 10-9 Taylor

Round Nine:
Taylor sticks to his game plan of landing while Lacy is open as he comes forward. Lacy's mouthpiece comes out but it looked like it fell out after a clinch. Lacy is getting peppered with flurries as his defense looks like it is worsening. Lacy lands a hard right hook as they fight out of a clinch. Taylor snaps the head of Lacy around with a great combo right before the bell.

Spartan117: 10-9 Taylor
Uatu: 10-9 Taylor

Round 10:
Lacy remains active after taking most of the punishment in the fight. Taylor lands a stiff jab and follows with another big hook. Lacy has no answers for Taylor's tactics. Taylor continues to clinch. Lacy's head keeps taking more and more abuse. I'm surprised he's still staying in there.

Spartan117: 10-9 Taylor
Uatu: 10-9 Taylor

Round 11:
The ref stops the action to cut extra tape off of Lacy's gloves. Lacy comes back into the fight throwing big, lunging haymakers. Taylor blocks and moves. Taylor lands a strong left hook. Lacy fires back but his punches are getting more wild and desperate. Taylor snaps the neck of Lacy with a great right hand. Lacy fights on but still has no defense.

Spartan117: 10-9 Taylor
Uatu: 10-9 Taylor

Round 12:
Lacy knows that he needs a KO to win and comes out in the 12th throwing bombs. Taylor backs up and doesn't want to get KO'ed. Taylor now lands a left hook. Both fighters are swinging away halfway through the round. Taylor lands another left-right combo. Taylor shows that he is the more technical boxer in this fight. The fans come to their feet for the last 10 seconds of the fight as the fighters give it their all and try for the knockout. Both fighters land some big shots right before the bell rings.

Spartan117: 10-9 Taylor
Uatu: 10-9 Taylor

Spartan117 scores it 118-110 and Uatu scores it 119-109, both for Taylor.

The judges score it 119-109, 118-110 and 119-109, all for the winner by unanimous decision, Jermain "Bad Intentions" Taylor.