Taylor Easily Outpoints Lacy

Former middleweight champ Jermain Taylor moved up to super-middleweight and scored a completely one-sided decision over Jeff Lacy at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. This was a crossroads fight between friends and roommates from the 2000 Olympic team. Both were looking to resurrect once-promising careers -- Taylor after back-to-back losses to Kelly Pavlik and Lacy after a devastating 2006 loss to Joe Calzaghe and a major injury to his left shoulder. From the opening bell, it was clear that Taylor was faster and technically superior. Lacy's only good rounds were the fifth and sixth -- referee Lawrence Cole inexplicably did not give Lacy credit for knocking down Taylor in the fifth when it was clear he went down as a result of a glancing punch. The rest of the bout was dominated by Taylor, earning him a wide margin on the judges’ scorecards: 119-109, 119-109 and 118-110.

Punch Stats: Taylor - 213 of 442 (48%), Lacy - 75 of 443 (17%).

Next: The win may put Taylor right back in the mix for a big money fight, possibly against Joe Calzaghe -- assuming Calzaghe elects to continue fighting after dominating Roy Jones Jr. last week. Lacy, as usual, showed tremendous heart but skillwise he's simply a notch below the elite level and needs to be matched carefully if he's to get in position for another big fight.

Elsewhere: Other big names in action last night included Kermit Cintron, Deontay Wilder (pro debut for 2008 Olympic medalist), David Haye (heavyweight debut), Alexander Dimitrenko and Michael Grant. Check out complete boxing results for details.