Well, there's the fight of the year...

And then there's the near WWE-level Jeff Lacy/Rob Reid fight which just finished. What can you say about a fight that had more twists and turns then an average McMahon-scripted PPV Main Event?

Round by round follows. I started paying attention when they began playing "Born In The USA" for Lacy as he headed for the ring. Obviously, the fact that Lacy's fighting a Brit would necessitate such a song, but "Born In The USA"? Last time I checked, that wasn't exactly the most patriotic song to come down the pipe.

Lacy is the hometown boy here, and gets the cheap pop. (Of course, when the entire arena is rooting for you, it's not a cheap pop. But I digress...) Reid comes in with a decent record and has apparently never been knocked down in a fight. He's also carrying the IBO belt, and BoxRec lists him as the #1 Super Middleweight, but as my boy Brendan said, he's not a known commodity on this side of the pond.

Round 1 - Not a huge amount of action as they start, but Lacy definitely seems the agressor as they punch and grapple around a bit. At about 1:30, Reid takes a couple of extra shots after the break is called, and it's quickly becoming obvious what kind of a fight this is going to be. At 1:10 he gets warned for hitting Lacy in the back of the head. Lacy gets some more work in before the bell, and it's a 10-9 round for Lacy, simply for aggressiveness.

Round 2 - Reid is backing up to start the round, making Lacy chase him. They wrestle around some more, and Reid gets warned about using his head. Most of the round is Lacy attacking and Reid grabbing, though he gets warned again at about :26 for hitting Lacy in the back. Another 10-9 round for Lacy, as Reid seems to be trying to decide which dirty tactic to use next.

Round 3 - Reid comes out jabbing early, and shows some signs of life. More wrestling follows at the 2 minute mark, and then at 1:25, Lacy lands a low blow but somehow avoids a point deduction, maybe because Reid wants to go again after about 30 seconds off. At about 1:00, Reid is warned again about the headbutting, and the last 40 seconds or so is all out war. I honestly could see it going either way in this round, so I call it 10-10.

Round 4 - Lacy is on fire. He spends virtually the entire round just bombing away at Reid. I gotta say this much for Reid, he's no punk. He stands in and just lets Lacy bomb away at him. Lacy's biggest onslaught is just before the bell, but Reid seemingly laughs it off, and says something to Lacy after the bell as Lacy took at least two shots after the bell. 10-9 Lacy, but there's an argument here for 10-8.

Now the fun begins.

Round 5 - Lacy continues to bomb away, hitting Reid with a particularly nasty jab at about 2 minutes. At 1:30, all hell breaks loose. Reid intentionally headbutts Lacy. The ref steps in to call time and take a point from Reid. As he does, Lacy swings over him and knocks down Reid. Clearly time has been called, but the ref not only counts it as a knockdown, but still takes the point away from Reid as well. (After the fight, the ref would not talk to the press, but apparently told Jim Gray that the punch was before he called time. Uh, sorry, man, but no.) Reid seems more annoyed then anything else, but Lacy is now swinging for the fences, looking for the 1-punch knockout. At about :08, Lacy scores a second, legitimate knockdown of Reid on a good hook. The round should have been a 10-7, but it's a 10-6 with the phantom knockdown.

For those of you keeping score, it's now 50-43 on my scorecard, and that's with the drawn round. Reid needs a miracle, or else Joe Calzaghe to run down to ringside with a chair, paste Lacy, and then tombstone him onto the chair.

Round 6 - Reid looks a bit lost out there, as he's just trying to stay alive. Much clutching and grabbing ensues. At about 1:20, Lacy seems to be rubbing his eye as though cut, but no one seems to notice but me. At :47, Reid goes down again. The round ends with Lacy coming forward again. Reid still seems game, but you have to wonder what the point of going on is. 10-8 Lacy.

Round 7 - Reid is still out there trying, jabbing away at Lacy inbetween flurries. At 1:55 he tries to scam a point on a phantom low blow, but the ref's not having it. At 1:27, he loses a point for excessive holding, and the ref threatens to DQ him if he keeps it up. ("Please do us the favor," I yell at my TV.) At about :40, Lacy unleashes a massive combo of jabs and uppercuts that ends with a solid right uppercut to Reid's jaw that rolls his eyes a little and knocks him down at :27. Lacy goes right back in and continues bombing away right to the bell.

As Reid goes into his corner, his trainer and he begin to argue, as the trainer is for calling the fight. He does so, despite Reid's protests to the contrary, and your winner by TKO at the end of round 7 is Jeff Lacy. After the fight, there's nearly another as one of Lacy's seconds starts to beef with Reid while Jim Gray is interviewing him. Reid admits intentionally headbutting Lacy, but says that Lacy never got him cleanly, and says he wanted to continue. Considering he was down 70-58 on my scorecard, and 70-57 on the cards of all three judges, I don't think it would have mattered.

Lacy's next fight should be with the aforementioned Joe Calzaghe, provided he beats whatever ham'n'egger he fights in September. BoxRec.com doesn't have an opponent listed, so who knows who it'll be. If Lacy beats Calzaghe(on Calzaghe's home turf, mind you), he'll add the WBO Super Middleweight Title to his IBF and IBO belts. After that, Lacy talked on the Showtime pre-fight broadcast about Jermain Taylor, though he'd have to go down to 160. That ought to be an interesting fight.