Lucas Matthysse Stops Lamont Peterson
Photo by Tom Casino for SHOWTIME
by Gautham Nagesh
Not every tale can have a Hollywood ending. Lamont Peterson found that out the hard way on Saturday night, losing by knockout in the third round to Lucas Matthysse in Atlantic City on Showtime.
[[MORE]]No one deserves a break more than Peterson, who has faced enough adversity in his 29 years for a small city. Saturday night’s main event in Atlantic City promised a lifetime of security to a man that had grown up without any. A win would guarantee one or two massive paydays; a loss might mark the high-water point of Peterson’s career.
Peterson had been to this big stage twice before, failing in his first attempt against Tim Bradley before pulling off the impossible against Amir Khan. But the Khan triumph was quickly followed by Peterson’s lowest moment as a professional, as a controversy over drug testing cost him a lucrative rematch. Lamont spent the next 14 months on the shelf, before a redemptive knockout win over Kendall Holt in March put him back in contention at 140 lbs.
Matthysse was a logical next step, with a true junior welterweight championship bout against Danny Garcia awaiting the winner. Visions of a Pay Per View superfight against Floyd Mayweather loomed down the road. The possibilities seemed limitless, provided Peterson could get past the heavy handed Argentine with just two controversial losses. Unfortunately for Lamont Peterson, beating Lucas Matthysse proved to be a bridge too far.
Peterson managed to box and move effectively in the first round, using his jab to keep the fight outside. Lamont tried to maintain that approach in the 2nd, but Matthysse’s pressure began to catch up with him in the second half of the round. Peterson began standing in the pocket and covering up, where he was a ready target for the Argentine’s heavy hands.
Matthysse followed Peterson to the ropes, where he landed a straight right to the body and a glancing left hook off Peterson’s temple. The blow wasn’t clean, but it hit hard enough to force Lamont to lose his balance and tumble to the mat. Referee Steve Smoger correctly ruled it a knockdown, and gave Lamont a count. Peterson rose and evaded his opponent until the bell, falling once in the clinch as his shaky legs betrayed him.
Matthysse sensed weakness to start the third and went straight for the knockout, winging huge shots with both hands. Lamont avoided him at first, but then stood and fought on the inside for the middle part of the round. The approach only hastened the inevitable. Peterson slipped a combination, then turned and looked for his left hook. Matthysse’s landed a nanosecond sooner, with catastrophic results. Peterson collapsed to the canvas in a heap.
Somehow Lamont rose, showing the kind of heart that makes one fear for a fighter’s safety. Matthysse obliged him by delivering a final barrage, sending Peterson down for the third time with a final left hook. Smoger had seen enough, and waved his arms over Peterson to stop the fight. Just like that, the Pride of D.C. had been extinguished. It hadn’t even taken three full rounds.
We planned to be in AC, but a confluence of events and the non-cooperation of Golden Boy contributed to us skipping what will surely be a long ride home for the many DMV residents that made the trek. Peterson told Jim Gray afterward that he got lazy with his jab and relaxed, allowing Matthysse to hurt him and finish the job. Perhaps, but in hindsight, this result was probably inevitable if both fighters came in near their best.
Peterson signed with Golden Boy before the Holt fight, but none of the promoter’s top brass bothered to attend that fight, and they didn’t seem interested in doing much with Lamont besides feeding him to Matthysse. Knockouts are a lot easier to sell than a slick boxer with a Dickensian inner-city backstory. No one can accuse Oscar de la Hoya and Co. of favoring the literary over the obvious.
Still, Lamont retains his IBF trinket through a bit of alphabet body chicanery, and losing to Matthysse is nothing to be ashamed of. Peterson should still be able to beat almost anyone else at 140 lbs.; we wouldn’t even write off his chances against Garcia. The road is far from over for Peterson, but it’s fair to say he will probably never top the pound-for-pound list. Lamont has almost everything you would want in a fighter except brutal knockout power. Sadly for him, the man standing in his way has that in spades.
Matthysse’s career has been no cakewalk either; many feel he has never been fairly beaten inside the ring. The Argentine’s power and lack of profile have prevented him from snagging the big fights, but there is no avoiding him at junior welterweight now. Garcia has consistently exceeded expectations during his rise, but his lack of dynamic speed or power make him the underdog against Matthysse in our view. A championship fight between the two would be the ideal companion to a Mayweather-Canelo this fall, if we are allowed to dream that big.
St. Louis welterweight Devon Alexander (right) cruised to a 7th-round stoppage of late replacement Lee Purdy in the co-feature. Alexander was too fast and too skilled for Purdy, who was called in to replace countryman Kell Brook after the fight had already been postponed three times due to injuries. Purdy was game but a class below Alexander, who owns one of the two disputed wins over Matthysse.
Purdy’s corner elected to stop the fight after the 7th. Despite protests from their fighter, it was the right call. Alexander was dominating the Englishman with one hand after injuring his left earlier in the fight. It mattered little, as Alexander is the rare southpaw with a vicious right hook. It was more than enough to keep the relatively basic Purdy at bay for seven full rounds.
This fight told us little we didn’t already know, but it did give Devon a chance to prove he’s not as boring as many fight fans think he is. He tried his best, standing in the pocket for most of the fight and punching at an absurdly high work rate for a welterweight. Whether it was enough remains in doubt, but Alexander took care of business, and that’s all he really can do.
