I'm thinking Lacy may be suffering from the current "american attitude" I am a proud american so I'm not bashing my country but we as a people seem to have been sold on the notion that being No #1 is everything. And so often if we can't be perfect we can't find the fire to be "excellent". As if excellence needs an excuse.
Perfection is a myth. The strongest character attributes are humility and tenacity....perfectionism comes way down the line if it is a postitive attribute at all. It usually just gets in the way. Anyone who saw the special on Lacy and how he had expressed his dreams knows what I mean here. He may (or may not) have let that fire go out just because of one loss.
Not all of our athletes suffer from this...DLH has never lost the fire even when things turned south for him....he seemed to just buck up and continue to give it everything he has. Ali did the same thing he never gave up and he championed excellence not perfection. Sugar Ray Robinson was about as close to a perfect fighter as you'll find and did not let losses define him. Did Lacy ever have that potential?...ok maybe not but my point still seems to have merit when I look across the board at our current athletes.
A few losses are like the flaws in fine leather...they prove the worth of the material....they indicate that in fact it is not a plastic naugehide of some sort. I rememberr an Archie Moore that lost a first round in a LHW fight but knew he was no naugahyde replica and came back and showed more leather to his opponent than anyone ever could have imagined.
J.D. Chapman has a perfect record.....any guesses as whether we are talking leather or naugahyde?
Other examples of naugahyde exposed......Zab Judah, Antonio Tarver, Mike Tyson, ....they are not exclusive to one country of course but the virus seems to be settling down pretty well in our neck of the woods for the time being.
You can build the very best things out of the scraps of a broken moment. IF you don't lose that fire that brought you there for that lesson.
and that's all I'm going to say about that.
A word about the "fighting spirit".
I have to agree...but part of what people saw was not what he had but what he might become....it started with his words and early actions. I dont' think his training post Calzaghe is the same as his training pre Calzaghe. Potential is what some people saw....and attitude is what gets you there. Your genes get you only so far...then it's what you do with your time...in pursuit of those skills.
You can not tell me based on last nights performance that he took the very good lesson Calzaghe gave him and learned from it. That seems to be his choice. I suppose your saying he didn't even have the potential...but I'd guess he did not pursue his potential in the same manner since his loss. Granted this is just a guess...maybe he has given it all...and that's all he's got.
You can not tell me based on last nights performance that he took the very good lesson Calzaghe gave him and learned from it. That seems to be his choice. I suppose your saying he didn't even have the potential...but I'd guess he did not pursue his potential in the same manner since his loss. Granted this is just a guess...maybe he has given it all...and that's all he's got.
re
>>>Lacys just not that good, overhyped from early on... 'the new Hagler' some said!... shame on them!... he's got decent power, a good chin and heart, but not much else...<<<
I have to agree also!!! I was one of those that really over-hyped him too. His early fights he looked as though he was going to be one of the hardest hitting fighters to ever lace up the gloves at 168 and I did not think that we would ever really get to see his skill because he was going to knock everyone out, but then we got to see his skill and it turns out that he is not a highly skilled fighter and it also turned out that he was not as hard a puncher as I thought that he was going to be...far from it!!!!
I have to agree also!!! I was one of those that really over-hyped him too. His early fights he looked as though he was going to be one of the hardest hitting fighters to ever lace up the gloves at 168 and I did not think that we would ever really get to see his skill because he was going to knock everyone out, but then we got to see his skill and it turns out that he is not a highly skilled fighter and it also turned out that he was not as hard a puncher as I thought that he was going to be...far from it!!!!
no argument from me...AND I'm not sure if we missed it or if we actually saw what he COULD be with an unrelenting training effort. I just don't know if we saw the potentional and he did not "mine" it or if he just never had it.
I don't think we could have all been that wrong....I think he heard our words and then he expecte our words to do his fighting for him.
It would not be the first time such a thing happened.
I don't think we could have all been that wrong....I think he heard our words and then he expecte our words to do his fighting for him.
It would not be the first time such a thing happened.
Maybe part of his problem is that he got hold of a 'world title' before he'd really learnt how to box, had he served a proper apprenticeship and had some competitive fights against fighters of differing styles then maybe he may have developed into a real well rounded world class fighter, having said that though he just doesnt seem to be one of those guys who is adaptable in the ring, who can change their tactics or even learn from his mistakes/defeats, he just seems able only to fight one way... go for a knockout... and if that fails theres no plan B. ...as it is it will be very hard for him to really get back to the top now and its doubtful he has the capacity to do it, shame really as Boxing is hardly overwhelmed with rising talent/stars these days and for all his faults Lacy has guts and is good to watch, I just wish someone had taught him how to fight when he started out!!...
A fighter can have all the best physical tools in the world but if he doesnt have the ' intangible" of being able to shake off a bad performance or a loss he is gonna have a tough uphill climb.
Its tough to come to the realization that somebody kicked the snot out of you .
The choice is either get back in the gym and work on what went wrong or be demoralized , sulk and fade.
The old Fritzie Zivic attitude of saying "Oh well I ran second "after a loss seems to be a thing of the past.
He would shrug his shoulders and say who is next and fight again in a couple weeks. Or sooner.
He is in the Hall of Fame.
There is way way too much emphasis on this undefeated record stuff these days.
A fighter has an obligation to always give it 100 percent .
But if he is shattered emotionaly by a loss , he should probably find a job.
Its tough to come to the realization that somebody kicked the snot out of you .
The choice is either get back in the gym and work on what went wrong or be demoralized , sulk and fade.
The old Fritzie Zivic attitude of saying "Oh well I ran second "after a loss seems to be a thing of the past.
He would shrug his shoulders and say who is next and fight again in a couple weeks. Or sooner.
He is in the Hall of Fame.
There is way way too much emphasis on this undefeated record stuff these days.
A fighter has an obligation to always give it 100 percent .
But if he is shattered emotionaly by a loss , he should probably find a job.
Boxing is 80% mental, I think the mentality of a fighter is far more important than the raw physical attributes... in some ways Lacy reminds me of what happened to Tyson... Tyson really lacked that plan B as well, ...and I dont think having Finkel in his corner bodes well for Lacy either, he hardly did him any favours with his comeback opponent!...
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DonCorleone
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 51
- Joined: 31 Aug 2006, 05:14
Re: A word about the "fighting spirit".
Maybe perfection = $. $>excellence now, so is this phenomenon any surprise, when you think anout it?BoxBuzz wrote:I'm thinking Lacy may be suffering from the current "american attitude" I am a proud american so I'm not bashing my country but we as a people seem to have been sold on the notion that being No #1 is everything. And so often if we can't be perfect we can't find the fire to be "excellent". As if excellence needs an excuse.
Perfection is a myth.
and that's all I'm going to say about that.
I can honestly say that these thoughts so ably expressed by Buzz were swirling around in my head as I watched Lacy-Tsypko.
Somebody once said that the true measure of a genius is his ability to make you see your own thoughts in a more concise, conceptual context.
I salute you, Boxbuzz, as a genius.
...re: my spelling of "naughyde".....i don't know it if it's correct...just doing it the way is sounds. i could have gone back and read buzz's commentary to check how he spelled it.....but it was a struggle to get through the first time and i'm that desperate to be perfect. besides..buzz's spelling is usually as bad as mine so maybe it wouldn't even be good.
jaclem i would typically claim that I pay no attention to spelling and just try to get my thoughts out in some sort of coherent way. However when it came to that word I was stumped...and too lazy to do spell check or run to the on line dictionary. So I attempted to think of another analogy.
None came to me so I selected several of my best guesses to appear in that blurb.
I hope they delight and entertain those imaginitive minds that are as leathered as my own.
None came to me so I selected several of my best guesses to appear in that blurb.
I hope they delight and entertain those imaginitive minds that are as leathered as my own.
Re: A word about the "fighting spirit".
Lacy always has some excuse, truth is that he's a babied front runner who doesnt know what to do when he's in with someone who can actually fight!....Decagon wrote:Sheesh. Lacy fights through a torn rotator cuff and gets a victory, and he's suffering from a bad attitude. Vitali Klitschko quits because of a torn rotator cuff, and people think that he won the match anyway.BoxBuzz wrote:I'm thinking Lacy may be suffering from the current "american attitude" I am a proud american so I'm not bashing my country but we as a people seem to have been sold on the notion that being No #1 is everything. And so often if we can't be perfect we can't find the fire to be "excellent". As if excellence needs an excuse.