NICE GUY LAMONT PETERSON “HONEST” ABOUT 140 LB. CLASS
Lamont Peterson
San Francisco, CA– In the third round Lamont Peterson was knocked down by Timothy Bradley before rising from the canvas, fighting valiantly, and dropping a competitive yet unanimous decision. Against Victor Ortiz he went down in the third again, but got up and battled his way to a draw after being behind on all scorecards. The same thing happened in front of over 10,000 of his hometown supporters in the opening round of his war with Amir Khan in which he managed to eke out a win on the scorecards in a historic and memorable night for boxing in the nation’s capital.
IBF CHAMP NEARLY BEHEADED BY MATTHYSSE LAST FIGHT
Last year, Peterson stepped up to the plate against Lucas “The Machine” Matthysse, a man most other jr. welterweights were thought to be avoiding. When Peterson went down in the third round, he regrouped quickly and many viewers assumed he was off to one of his notoriously slow starts. But then he went down again…. and again… and again, and finally referee Steve Smoger, a man with a reputation for being slow to stop fights (sometimes too slow) was forced to call a halt to the action.
IBF STILL RECOGNIZES PETERSON AFTER LUCAS DRUBBING!
After such a devastating stoppage loss to one of the hardest hitters in the game, many wondered how the D.C. native would move forward with his career. He had already been in enough of the type of grueling blood and guts contests which take tolls on fighters. Now he had suffered the type of loss that most don’t come back from.
FACED “EASY” MARK IN CANADIAN-HAITIAN?
This was on the minds of many in the lead up to his bout this past weekend against the rugged, tough, and undefeated Canadian-Haitian, Dierry Jean. Would he move forward and not backdown with the same tenacity that had come to define him? How would he react when hit cleanly by a shot from the hard-hitting Jean? Would he still be able to pull the trigger when he saw the openings? Or would he grow hesitant as many fighters do after being stopped? Had the Matthysse bout taken everything out of him? Would he have anything left?
LAMONT DOESN’T “AWE” TOO MANY PEOPLE!
Peterson answered all these questions and then some when he overcame another slow start in a fun, closely-contested, action packed defense of his title. After taking a few rounds to figure out Jean’s timing Peterson stepped forward throughout most of the night in an attempt to close the gap between Jean and himself in order to prevent his opponent’s hard, straight shots by smothering and overwhelming him with body shots and hooks.
PAPER CHAMP DESERVED A SHOWTIME MAIN?
As game as the challenger was, he was brought into the deepest waters he had ever swam in before. When asked afterwards why he lost this fight, Jean quickly pointed to his conqueror’s experience. His response couldn’t have rang truer. Not only has Peterson consistently been in with the elite of his division, he overcame a brief period of child homelessness on the streets of Washington D.C. with his brother and fellow fighter Anthony before they were taken in by their surrogate father and trainer, Barry Hunter. Overcoming adversity is what Peterson.
PETERSON IN HIS OWN WORDS
The man is a fighter’s fighter. Before this past weekend’s matchup, he said to the press, “The belts really don’t mean much to me, all I care about is boxing. I love boxing, I love fighting, and that’s all that matters to me.” And even though Lamont holds the IBF title himself, he humbly declared Danny Garcia the real champion of the division and said he wants to face him in what would be a can’t miss, all East coast battle for jr. welterweight supremacy.
CLASSY GUY SHOULD NOT HAVE TITLE?
Let’s hope the bout comes through. Still, most fight fans remember his beheading by Matthysse and wonder how is this guy still champion? As a gentleman outside of the ring who fights his heart out every time and is never in a dull bout, he deserves a shot at the champ and the financial opportunities that come with it. It seems certain that with the styles of these two it is only a matter of time before one of them tastes the canvas. But if it’s Lamont Peterson who goes down first you can almost guarantee he will get back up and win or lose, make a heck of a fight out of it. That’s why we watch boxing. That’s why I watch Lamont Peterson.
Jason B. Nava