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Lunch with Ernest

A peaceful place for a warrior of the ring

By ERNEST HOOPER
Published November 18, 2005

Cameras flashed, people cheered and everyone crowded the boxing ring to congratulate Jeff "Left Hook" Lacy.

That was the scene when Lacy, the IBF super middleweight champion, successfully defended his title in Reno, Nev., earlier this month. Some fans even had Lacy autograph pictures after his second-round knockout of Scott Pemberton.

Over wings at the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in Lithia, Lacy talked about his love of the quiet life, his sports heroes and how he goes from peaceful persona to fighting mad for each match.

JEFF: It's peaceful. I'm a very laid-back guy. When I want my time to myself, I want my time to myself. That's one of the reasons I came out to this area. It's laid back and quiet.

We have that, but you want to get away from it. You don't want to live the rest of your life in glitz and glamor. You have to have some time for yourself; some time to get level-headed. This is what brings me back down to my reality. What I do out there, everybody loves it and it grabs all the attention. But you need that peaceful time to come off that cloud.

Of course. When you're in lights, camera, action all the time, you're in the high life. You start believing as if everything is supposed to buzz around you. It doesn't. I look at myself as doing something that I love to do, and it allows me to be in the public eye. It really grounds me when I come back to this area.

Yeah, people recognize me, but they still don't know how to come up to me. If I was in St. Pete, people would just randomly come up to me. I don't mind that, but it has its up and downs.

One of the good things about living out here is I can go to St. Pete and train and come back here and have that down time. I feel like I'm in a training camp when I come here. I don't have all my friends and family bothering me when I'm out here. It's a 45-minute drive every day, but I don't mind.

When I have time to step back and really think about all I'm doing in life, with me preparing and all the sacrifices I'm making, that's what triggers my meanness. All of it can be taken away if I don't prepare myself right. I think about the consequences and everything that could happen. When you're living that high life, you don't think about the little things. You get carried away, too much energy is drawn somewhere else and you're not on top of your game.

Oh yeah, even as a kid, everything I did I wanted to be first in. I still have the record for doing pull-ups in my elementary school. I always wanted to be No. 1. I never wanted to be No. 2 or No. 3. I'm a perfectionist.

I was fighting in elementary school. There was a bully messing with one of my friends, and I stood up for him. I beat the bully up and it made me look like the bully. What happened is the teacher called home to my dad and told him I was fighting again. My dad took me to the local boxing gym and put me in the ring with a guy who knew how to fight. Like I said, I hated to lose anything and I lost. (Laughs.) The kid that beat me up was smaller than I was, and I always thought bigger was better. When I saw that, I saw the skill of boxing, and I stuck with it.

What really inspired me to go to the Olympics was when Magic Johnson was in it (in 1992). He had the HIV virus, and people were writing him off. Him going and doing that, and seeing the smile on his face and him waving the flag, I remember.

I met him after the Olympics at a boxing match, a Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas. It was overwhelming. Just to see a person who you grew up watching on television, I was in disbelief. It was like I was dreaming. When I realized it was all true, that's when I started saying anybody can do anything if they put their mind and heart to it.

That's one of the things I carry around with myself. Being one of the most active fighters and world champions out there right now, and the way people applaud me when they see me in public, there are so many people out there that really admire what I do. I look at myself as a good role model.

I don't mind that because I was in that same position. Him and Evander Holyfield helped me be the person that I am today.

Actually, the training itself. A lot of the fans don't get a chance to see what you prepare for, the ups and downs you go through. A lot of the times, fighters don't say anything about the injuries that happen. They keep that out of the media. The preparation is toughest because when you prepare very well and do what you have to do in training, the fight is easy.

Oh no. I just fought last week, and I'm trying to gain some weight. (Laughs.)

I can basically eat anything I really want, but I stay away from it. Every now and then I need something to burn. If I don't eat carbs, I won't have any energy for boxing. If I ate lettuce and salads and ate perfect, I wouldn't have energy for what I do.

Yeah, I can eat junk food and keep the look that I have. (Laughs.)

I jog around the area. My girlfriend and I go down to the community courts and play basketball. We go to the movies, but I don't do too much here. Seriously, this house I have out here, is more of a training camp house. When I'm out here, I'm only thinking boxing.

I like it. I love it. All my friends are like, I have to come all the way out there? I don't have many visitors. I don't have any of my home boys following me home. If they do, they better have a full tank of gas. (Laughs.) When it turns night, it's dark out here. They ain't coming out here when it's dark because they don't know where they're at.

You know what, I've been doing that. I was always hollering St. Pete, Clearwater, Tampa. I was at the gym at Lifestyles one day, and somebody said Man, you live in Lithia. So the last couple of fights I've been putting Brandon in there. I didn't even think about it. It didn't register at first, but I was like, Man, I live here.

[Last modified November 17, 2005, 08:14:05]