Lacy Overwhelms Game Sheika

By Will "The Thrill" Trillo
Photos: Bret "The Threat" Newton
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IBF Super Middle Champ Jeff Lacy was taken to the limit by Omar Sheika in this 12 round war and Lacy had to pull out everything to defeat a determined Sheika by a unanimous but hard fought decision. Scores read 115-113,115-113 & 117-111 on the judges cards, but that was not the complete story in this one.

To complete the story, one needs to remember that Lacy entered this fight as the prohibitive favorite, the one who had a big future already in his sights. And let's also remember that Sheika was considered to be somewhat of a stepping stone at this point in his career. Certainly he was not here to test Lacy and stretch him out as far as he could go.However, it looked like someone forgot to tell Omar his role, because not only did he prove a challenge to Lacy but he came very close to becoming Lacy's worst nightmare. The

too close for comfort scores of 113-115 could have gone horribly wrong for Lacy with just an extra flurry or two by the game Sheika!

As with the main event, the judges did not view this fight through the same glasses, and the round per round scores were all over the map, a perfect example of that is rounds 2-5. One judge gave all those rounds to Sheika while the other scored 3 of the 4 in favor of Lacy. But regardless of how they scored each round, I think we all can agree on a few things, 1. Sheika has a way better set of whiskers than anyone gave him credit for, 2. Omar is capable of holding his own against the top fighters in his division, 3.

Lacy is a good talent with a lot of heart and willing to fight when the going gets rough, 4. Lacy is not a multidimensional fighter yet and has some work to do before we can proclaim him best at his weight class.

All in all, this was a very crowd pleasing fight and both fighters should be able to use this fight as a springboard to some real nice paydays!

Lacy keeps his IBF Title and moves his record up to 18-0, 14 KO's and Sheika's record falls to 26-7, 17 KO's.


Questions or Comments? Please Contact Will "The Thrill" Trillo
For Photos, Contact Bret "The Threat" Newton