By Nick Bellafatto
If there were any doubts as to whether or not Argentinian knockout artist Lucas Martin Matthysse (34-2, 32) is the real deal, you can throw those doubts out the window. For he would in emphatic fashion this past Saturday night stop Washington, D.C.’s IBF junior welterweight champion Lamont “Havoc” Peterson (31-2-1, 16 KO’s), a man who had never before been stopped.
The end came at 2:14 of round three as referee Steve Smoger would mercifully waive the bout off while hovering over a battered and beaten Peterson, this before an awestruck crowd inside Atlantic City, New Jersey’s Boardwalk Hall Convention Center.
Boxing smartly behind a jab and moving laterally early on, Lamont looked to have found a way to perhaps stave off the inevitable. That thought would be short lived however once the stalking Matthysse landed solidly in round 2.
Photoo: Al Bello/ Getty Images
It was in that second frame that Peterson along the ropes would fail to maintain distance, so that eating a right hand downstairs followed by a left hook to the head would see Lamont dropped to the canvass by his Argentine opponent for the first knockdown of the fight.
Able to rise to his feet, “Havoc” would survive to make it to his stool, only to receive more of the same treatment in round 3. Coming out for that third round Peterson looked to abandon his boxing, so that standing his ground Lamont would get caught with yet another left hook, this time even more flush than the first, causing him to hit the deck once more.
Woozy and barely able to beat the count this time, Peterson after being closely looked at by Smoger would be allowed to continue. But on a short leash looking ready to go, Lamont would get floored for the third and final time with you guessed it, a left hook. “I’m upset that I lost the fight,” stated a recovering Peterson.
“I got lazy with the jab. The ref did the right thing in stopping the fight. He [Matthysse] was the better man tonight.”
Although coming up well short, Lamont Peterson by way of this particular fight being deemed a non-title affair, is still the IBF junior welterweight champion. That said, he was no match for Matthysse this night, and in all likelihood will never be.
Marching on in what was a supposed four-man tournament at junior welterweight, with perhaps Amir Khan to oddly figure in the mix, the next and what should be final stop on the tour for Matthysse will see him square off with WBA/WBC, and Ring Magazine champion Danny Garcia, a bout perhaps to take place in September.
And as regards the current situation, if anything Matthysse is confident that he’s the best junior welter on the planet.
“I’m the best at 140,” stated Lucas, “because nobody has dominated Peterson the way I did. 2 and ½ months preparation and I think that was the difference.”
Alexander cruises as Purdy corner pulls plug
Not so much hurt physically, Kell Brook stand-in Lee Purdy (20-4-1, 13 KO’s) of Colchester, Essex, United Kingdom after seven complete rounds would nevertheless break down emotionally when fighter and cornerman Darren Barker saw fit to pull the plug.
The end result, the English fighter would come up well short against IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander “The Great,” (25-1, 14 KO’s), this in what would have been Lee’s first major title bid save for not making the specified 147-pound weight limit.
In nothing short of a lackluster effort, Purdy in coming forward throughout would prove to be victimized by the sharp combinations of Alexander, who on cruise control would beat Lee to the punch endlessly. This from what amounted to a one-handed fighter in the Saint Louis southpaw who had appeared to register a complete shutout.
“I hurt it [the left hand] in the first round,” stated Alexander. I hit him on top of the head and couldn’t throw it like I wanted to.” Overall having an easy go of it, Devon post fight would allude to potential encounters with the likes of Amir Khan, or even Floyd Mayweather Jr. should boxing’s premier pugilist choose to go that route. We shall see.
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