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Lamont Peterson Retains IBF Junior Welter Title, Decisions Dierry Jean

Published

11 years ago

January 26, 2014

Lamont Peterson’s run as IBF junior welterweight champion is back on track with a 12-round decision over Dierry Jean in front of a crowd of 5,600 at the D.C. Armory in Washington, D.C. Peterson bounced back from his loss to Lucas Matthysse in a non-title bout in May of 2013.

“I knew that it was Dierry Jean’s first time fighting on a big stage and nerves would come to him and make him uncomfortable,” said Peterson after.

Jean, who had repeatedly stated that he wanted to take the belt back to his home of Quebec, entered the ring wearing shorts bearing the flag of the Canadian province and sporting its famous cap. Peterson entered to a thundering applause from his hometown crowd and chants of “USA! USA!”

The first round produced little excitement as both fighters landed as many punches as they took risks. In the second round, Peterson opened it up a bit by using his considerable reach advantage to pepper Jean with his jab. The challenger responded by working his way inside and landing a barrage of body shots at end of the round.

From there, the bout turned into a slugfest with two fan bases frequently rising to their feet. In the third, Jean landed a right cross that knocked a gob of spit out of Peterson’s mouth, causing about 100 Canadian fans at ringside to rise to their feet. Peterson responded with a Roy Jones-esque arm winding motion before throwing a flurry of punches.

Other than a vicious left hook from Jean in the seventh, Peterson dictated the pace of rounds six through nine using his size and jab to set up combinations. He would ultimately land 230 punches to Jean’s 123 in the fight. In the tenth round, referee Roberto Ramirez granted Jean a timeout following a Peterson blow that was a little low on his hip. Peterson continued to press Jean in the 11^th round, but kept his distance in the 12^th round, apparently convinced that he had the decision secured. He was right. The final scorecards read 115-113, 118-111 and 116-112 in his favor.

“With this being my first title fight, I’m definitely leaving with my head held high. My fans are with me and I definitely fought for this,” said Jean through translations by a French interpreter.

As for Peterson’s next fight, it’s more about the goal than the opponent.

“I’d like to be considered the best 140-pound fighter in boxing and if my next fight is (WBC and WBA Junior Welterweight champion) Danny Garcia, it’s Danny Garcia,” said Peterson.

In the co-main event, Jermell Charlo (23-0, 11 KOs) retained his WBC Continental America’s Super Welterweight title with a 10-round decision over Gabriel Rosado (21-8, 13 KOs). Charlo faced his toughest opponent to date in Rosado, who was so amped that he was leaping into the air during introductions. Throughout the fight, Rosado swarmed, whiffing as many punches as he landed and leaving himself wide open to Charlo’s powerful left hooks. By the end of the fourth round, there was swelling under both of Rosado’s eyes.

In the fifth, an accidental head-butt turned that swollen right eye into a nasty cut. It was yet another instance where Rosado’s eye was cut in a bout. The round ended with Charlo landing a series of heavy shots as Rosado defended himself against the ropes.

The later rounds saw punches being traded heavily in spurts, with Charlo maintaining control. In the tenth, Charlo nailed Rosado with a vicious one-two combination causing him to drop his hands in anger. The final bell sounded with Charlo keeping his distance from a frustrated Rosado.

“I absolutely knew that I was going to have box and cut him,” said Charlo. “He came to fight and he did exactly what we trained for. This fight was about being in shape. Regarding the clash of heads in the fifth, once I saw that his eye was cut, I knew that I had to keep it up and keep working on it.”

Cut or no cut, Charlo landed 239 shots compared to Rosado’s 94. The three judges’ final scorecards read 100-90, 99-91 and 97-93.

The undercard produced few shocking moments. Dashon Johnson (15-14-3, 5 KOs) did surprise up-and-coming D.C. middleweight Dominic Wade (14-0) by sending him to the canvas in the early seconds of the first round. Wade responded by landing enough body shots to win a close decision. The originally scheduled eight-round bout was shortened to six to make Showtime’s 9:00 PM start time for Charlo/Rosado.

Bantamweight Rau’shee Warren (18-0, 3 KOs) maintained his perfect record with a unanimous decision over German Meraz (33-27-1, 20 KOs). Warren, the only three-time Olympian in U.S. boxing history, won all eight rounds on all three judges scorecards.

Lightweight Robert Easter, Jr., improved to 9-0 by cruising to an eight-round unanimous decision over D.C. journeyman Daniel Attah (28-18-1, 11 KOs).

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Aaron Tallent

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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

9 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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