BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Barry Hunter, the trainer for Lamont Peterson, thought his fighter worked his gameplan to perfection against undefeated junior middleweight champion Danny Garcia Saturday night.
Peterson moved around the ring early during their non-title fight on NBC at Barclays Center, hoping to tire Garcia out, then go to work on his body in the later rounds.
“He tends to tire down the stretch because of the wide shots that he throws,” Hunter said of Garcia. “Garcia looked impressive early on because of the number of punches he threw, but nevertheless a lot of them were glancing blows.”
Garcia barely held on to his perfect record, defeating Peterson by majority decision before a raucous crowd of 12,300 in NBC’s second nationally televised fight card. It couldn’t have been much closer. Two judges scored it 115-113 for Garcia, while the third had it 114-114.
It was the second Prime Boxing Champions series card on NBC, and like the first one, gave the fans their money’s worth.
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Garcia became frustrated early on as he tried to press the action, but Peterson avoided many of the shots, moving and dancing around the ring, exhibiting outstanding footwork and quickness. At one point Garcia looked at Peterson and gestured with his gloves as if to say, “Come on, let’s fight.”
Eventually, Peterson did just that and appeared to control the action in the later rounds, going to Garcia’s body often.
The fight was fought at a catch weight of 143 pounds, and Garcia’s junior middleweight titles were not on the line.
The Philadelphia fighter nicknamed “Swift” improved to 30-0 with 17 KOs, while Peterson, from Washington, D.C., lost for the third time. His record stands at 33-3-1, also with 17 KOs.
“That was a war. That’s what the fans want to see,” Garcia said. “He stuck to his game plan and moved a lot. I was really prepared. I thought it was close, I’m not going to lie, but I think I had the edge.”
Hunter didn’t think so. He said of Garcia, “There was love before and there will be love after. He did what he had to do. I just think the judges need to be better judges.”
Garcia, who has won two of his last three fights by majority decision, said he believed he had to move up to welterweight because “it’s affecting my performance.”
Garcia threw 589 punches and landed 173, while Peterson threw nearly a hundred fewer but connected on 170, or 34%. Garcia had a decisive edge in power punches landed, 147 to 105.
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Asked if he wanted Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao next, Garcia said he needed to get in a couple fights at 147 pounds before he could think about either one.
Garcia earned $1.5 million for his night’s work, while Peterson took home $1.2 million.
“I’m not calling it a robbery, but it was a hard-foght fight,” a disappointed Peterson said.
In the co-main event, WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee and challenger Peter Quillin fought to a draw.
Quillin started off strongly, knocking Lee down twice in the first three rounds. But then he faded some in the late rounds.
Lee’s title was not on the line after Quillin missed weight.on Friday and the Brooklyn resident, who walked to the fight from his home a few blocks from Barclays Center, had to forfeit $125,000 of his $500,000 purse to Lee. But even if there had been a belt to fight for, Lee would have kept it because of the draw.The champion keeps the belt in a draw.
“The weight’s not coming off as easy as it used to,” Quillin said afterward, though he says he worked as hard as ever coming into the fight. “I’m 32 this year, and I’ve been fighting middleweight since I was 21. My body’s going through changes.”
Quillin said he will take a little time and talk to his team, but there’s a good chance he could move up to 168 pounds. “I’m just taking it one day at a time,” he said.
Lee, from Ireland, almost didn’t make it out of the first round. He was knocked down after a hard right by Quillin, then nearly hit the canvas again as the bell rang, as his legs wobbled precariously..
Lee went down again in the third round, but seemed to gain strength as the fight wore on. Quillin, meanwhile, after a strong start, began to lose steam in the later rounds, giving Lee time to regain his legs and win rounds.
Quillin went down in the seventh following a left and a right by Lee, who outworked “Kid Chocolate” in the late rounds to gain the draw.
Lee’s record stands at 34-2-1 with 24 KOs, while Quillin is 31-0-1 with 22 KOS. Quillin had not fought in nearly a year. He tried to lose the 1.4 pounds he was over the limit on Friday, but fell .6 pounds short.
“I could’ve maybe gone into the sauna and tried to lose that weight,” he said. “But do you go health over wealth or wealth over health? When you die, you can’t take it with you.”
