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Omar Sheika knows he is running out of chances.
He has moved his training camp back to the Catskills, where he had most of his professional success. He is on a three-fight win streak after nearly falling off the boxing map. And Saturday, he gets a shot at the IBF super-middleweight championship when he meets St. Petersburg's Jeff Lacy at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Sheika (26-6) knows the time is now. A loss to Scott Pemberton in January was his fourth straight, but his win streak, the last two by decision, put him in position for his sixth title fight.
In his previous tries for super-middleweight gold, Sheika, now 27, was knocked out three times. But a return to his old training ground has reinvigorated the New Jersey fighter, who is hoping to regain the form that helped him beat current light heavyweight champ Glen Johnson in 2000 (before he lost five of his next eight fights).
"It was very important for me to go back to my roots and get back to how I started," Sheika said last week. "It was electrifying, very exciting. It is exactly what I needed to get for this fight. It just brings a lot of memories back to the old school and with the (Mike) Tyson style and everything. So I am really excited. There is nothing but hard-core training up there and that is what I needed for this fight, to go back into training like I have never trained before, and that is what I did up there. I am very ready for this fight."
If styles make fights, then Saturday's on Showtime should be worth setting the TiVo. Lacy, the young rising star known for his straightforward style and power, vs. Sheika, the veteran known for his straightforward style and power.
Sheika is perfectly made for Lacy. He'll sit there and exchange power shots, a strategy few give a chance to succeed. He also is desperate enough to be a serious threat to Lacy (17-0) in his first defense.
DOWN THE ROAD: Middleweight Jermain Taylor, a 2000 Olympic bronze medalist, is also fighting Saturday night, against veteran and three-time world champ William Joppy. Viewers can catch both fights because Taylor won't fight until about 10:45 p.m. on HBO's After Dark, an hour and 45 minutes after Showtime's card begins. Taylor and Lacy, Olympic teammates, could be a megafight down the road as their pro careers parallel each other. Lacy said he is only looking to unify the super-middleweight division, while Taylor continues to call out Bernard Hopkins. But a case could be made the two are on a collision course.
Also scheduled on the undercard of the "Season's Beatings" main event with Taylor is the pro debut of Winter Haven's Andre Berto.
THREE'S GOOD COMPANY: There have been a lot of great trilogies in boxing, and Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales completed another memorable one Saturday in Las Vegas, with Barrera winning by 12-round majority decision.
Morales won the first meeting, but Barrera took the series with wins in the last two. The two combined to throw more than 1,500 punches Saturday, with Barrera inflicting damage early and hanging on to win 115-113 on two scorecards. A third card was 114-all.
A bloodied Morales rallied late and rocked Barrera in the final two rounds, winning on all the judges cards. But it was too little, too late. He refused to shake hands with Barrera afterward, making it three disputed and controversial decisions between the fighters.
There will not be, it appears, a Part IV. Morales is likely to move up a weight class, and Barrera might pursue a rematch with Manny Pacquiao, who was rooting for Barrera. He stopped Barrera in the 11th round when they fought last year.
WHO'S NEXT?: Lacy was the first. Rocky Juarez (21-0, 14 KOs) could be the second 2000 Olympian to win a title. Ranked No. 1 by the WBC and IBF, he meets former WBC featherweight champ Guty Espadas (38-6, 24 KOs) on Friday on ESPN2. The broadcast, which also has Dominick Guinn (25-1, 18 KOs) against Serguei Lyakhovich (21-1, 14 KOs) in a 10-round heavyweight fight, starts at 9:30 p.m.