Lamont Peterson Turns It Around Against Kendall Holt in D.C.

Photo by Anna John for StiffJab.com

by Trey Pollard

WASHINGTON, D.C.–Sure, this fight officially ended in the 8th round, when referee Tony Weeks waved Kendall Holt’s hopes off after a possessed Lamont Peterson rattled his opponent’s head for the sixth or seventh time of the evening.

But the fight effectively over as soon as Peterson landed his first solid punch of the night: a hard left hand up high, landing mid-way through the fourth round - the first glimmer of hope of the night for Peterson. Before it hit, Peterson’s hometown crowd at the D.C. Armory barked nervously, shuffling in their seats, too anxious to even cat-call the absurdly dressed ring card girls.

Once Peterson landed that punch, the tide shifted. It was enough to break through the nervous energy, enough to shake off 14 months of ring rust, enough to stop Kendall Holt from looking like a contender, and evidently enough to give Peterson his confidence back after the failed drug test that sent his career spiraling.[[MORE]]

When the shouts of awe broke out after that first real connection in the fourth, there was no turning back. Holt’s momentum was staggered like his body. After three rounds of leaping away from punches, Peterson lept into the fight, becoming the aggressor and walking through Holt’s power to send the crowd into an uproar.

From there, the chants of “Pet-er-son” and “D.C” were prideful rather than doubtfully encouraging, and Peterson fought perhaps even sharper than in his upset win over Amir Khan so many months ago across town at the Washington Convention Center. Holt hit the canvass on a knockdown near the end of the fourth, and it was clear who was boss.

With a tight defense, Peterson charged forward, laying out barrages of punches that kept Holt stunned for the remaining four rounds: Body blows, precise combinations, and reliable jabs. They were devastating as they accumulated, most notably when a succession of punches in the sixth left Holt clinging to the ropes and Peterson simultaneously, enough to earn a warning from Weeks.

Boxing matchmakers aren’t stupid, so Holt’s resilience kept the fight going longer than most could have endured. And Holt kept it exciting, as he held onto his reliable power long enough to prevent Peterson from finishing things too quickly. Still, even with that lingering threat, once Peterson’s switch was flipped on, there was nothing Holt could have done.

It was as if Peterson realized the tagline to the fight was in question, and he had to do something about it. After all, to even attempt to earn “redemption” – as the promotion was earnestly billed – Peterson would have to earn the knockout that eluded him in December of 2011 during his controversial decision over Amir Khan.

Tonight’s knockout would serve as an the eraser in more ways the one – enough, Peterson’s camp hopes, to remove doubts about the synthetic testosterone, the drug test, and all the questions that piggybacked on it about who Lamont Peterson is and what he is capable of. And, even more than that, to prove to his hometown that he could still earn them a win.

Peterson didn’t just beat a solid fighter in Holt – he dismantled him. And he did it after shaking off more than year’s worth of rust, perservering through the media’s questions, and enduring the doubts that had to come with the controversy that required redemption in the first place.

Redeemed? Hard to say for sure, but many of the doubts have to be gone from even the eye of the most cynical observer. Lamont Peterson can fight through more than just physical challenges – and he’ll sure as hell get another one of those very soon.