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Garcia And Peterson Were Exactly Who We Thought They Were During Their Clash

Published

10 years ago

April 13, 2015

This past Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, junior welterweight title holders Danny Garcia 30-0 (17) and Lamont Peterson 33-3-1 (17) met in a 12-round catch-weight bout fought at 143. Their respective titles weren’t on the line but bragging rights for division supremacy were, which turned out to be a wash because neither fighter distinguished themself over the other. When it was over Garcia left the ring still unbeaten by virtue of a majority decision victory by the scores of 114-114, 115-113 and 115-113.

The fight itself wasn’t all that good until the last third of it, and a draw or a point win for Peterson seemed to me to be the more accurate call. That said, Peterson has no one to blame for the closeness of the decision but himself.

Lamont should’ve spent more time getting off more cleanly instead of posturing and showboating after his punches came up a little short during the early rounds. Had he fought more like he did during the last four rounds the fight wouldn’t have been so close.

Prior to the bout Peterson said, “Skills will be the difference. I can fight many different ways. I have the skills to fight inside and I have the skills to box. It’s about choosing one and showing my skill level at whichever one I do.”

And my thoughts on what he said were: “Whenever fighters say they can win by fighting inside, which is code for saying I can punch and trade with anybody, or I have the skills to box, it’s a good indicator that they have no true style identity.”

Well, that couldn’t have been more evident than it was during the first six or seven rounds of the bout this past weekend.

For the first six or seven rounds Peterson tried to fight as a conventional boxer with a little too much movement and foot work, hoping to tire Garcia out for the second half of the bout. The problem for Lamont was, he wasn’t that effective. Many of his jabs fell a little short and he didn’t sit down on or commit to any finishing punches he threw, and because of that he wasn’t discouraging Garcia from forcing the action. Sure, he made Garcia miss a lot, but in the eyes of the judges Danny was still making the fight. Boxing does not mean gliding all over the ring. To be an effective boxer you have to connect cleanly, preferably in combination, and Peterson wasn’t having that kind of sustained success. He found as the fight progressed that he just wasn’t good enough to execute that style against Garcia’s pressure. Mainly because Peterson’s boxing style often varies from fight to fight. He can’t emulate Floyd Mayweather fighting upper-tier guys like Garcia. From a skill vantage- point Peterson has the physical tools needed to do it, it’s just that he hasn’t ingrained that into his style to where it’s almost second nature to him.

During the second half of the bout Peterson started to push the fight and forced Garcia to retreat and break off the exchanges. And whaddya know, it turns out that Peterson was the bigger presence physically once he came down off of his toes and ceased unnecessarily jumping in and out. Once he began pressuring Garcia, suddenly Danny was rushing his shots, covering or holding as Peterson landed clean right hands to his eyes and cheek. It seemed when Peterson ceased worrying about his chin holding up and sat down on his punches with Garcia in retreat, Lamont won the round in a commanding fashion.

Then it happened at just the wrong time, Peterson reverted back to moving all over the place and the momentum he built in the previous two rounds, he surrendered back to Garcia; that enabled Danny to maintain the lead Lamont spotted him during the early rounds, at least in the eyes of the judges. After fighting like Mayweather-lite and tossing the tempo back to Garcia, Peterson went back to his inner Joe Frazier during the last two and a half rounds of the fight and started forcing the action and won the rounds decidedly. But due to his inconsistency and lack of style identity early, Peterson came up one round short of salvaging the bout on two scorecards.

I don’t know if it’s a lack of a more developed trainer, or Peterson just happens to be one of those fighters that once the fight starts, he does what he wants. His sporadic style lapses have held him back and that’s why he’s hit the wall and hasn’t evolved into an elite fighter yet. It seems that when Lamont steps up in class, his lack of a developed go to weapon offensively or defensively has restrained him some – more so than it being a case of the other guy being a better fighter than him. Whoever’s working with Lamont should emphasize that his legs and his jab are his best assets, and he should work on applying them more extensively.

The fight turned out to be more about what Lamont Peterson should’ve and could’ve done because the opening was there for him to win it conclusively. In other words, Garcia was exactly who we thought he was as a fighter, mostly aggressive with a good left hook, and Peterson was exactly who we thought he was as a fighter, a good boxer with an assortment of punches, but inconsistent. Nothing was settled between the two as to who the better fighter is. And if they fought again it would be interesting to see how both would adapt to what they now know about the other.

Physically and stylistically, Peterson has more things to work with and tweak heading into a rematch, but Danny Garcia is a very tough fighter and what may seem to be the answer for Peterson a second time is no sure thing.

The fight was another installment of the “Premier Boxing Champions” series. Both Peterson and Garcia are first class professionals and always give their best effort for the fans. I’m sure if they met again it would be a big television draw. And maybe the next time they’ll fight at 147?

Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GlovedFist@Gmail.com

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Frank Lotierzo

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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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