Light welterweight Lucas Matthysse (33-2, 31 KO’s) squares off against Lamont Peterson (31-1-1, 16 KO’s) this Saturday night in a Showtime televised fight at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Neither fighter will have their titles on the line, as the fight will take place at a catchweight of 141 lbs. It seems that neither guy wanted to put up their strap for the fight. Matthysse only had his WBC interim light welterweight title, and that wasn’t worth anything to Peterson. He wants the full title, not an interim strap.
However, the winner of this fight will be getting a lot more than if there was a title on the line. The winner gets to move onto face WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia in an important bout that leads to Amir Khan waiting at the end of the line later on this year. That’s how Golden Boy Promotions set it up.
They let Khan take what was supposed to have been an easy bout against 33-year-old Julio Diaz, while the rest of the fighters in the tourney had to go through a lot more to get to Khan. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but the winner at the very end will likely be selected by Floyd Mayweather Jr. for a nice multi-million dollar payday next year.
It’s going to be difficult for Peterson to get past Matthysse this Saturday night because he’s faster and stronger, and maybe even a lot stronger.
Peterson’s brawling style is made for Matthysse, and we could see Peterson getting knocked out for the first time in his career if he decides he wants to go toe-to-toe with Mattysse for 12 rounds. This isn’t Khan or Victor Ortiz that Peterson’s fighting on Saturday.
Matthysse is going to bring it and he won’t be backing off the way Khan and Ortiz did in their fights with Peterson. Matthysse will be right on top of Peterson because he’s been burnt twice in fights against Devon Alexander and Zab Juday in the past for starting slowly and not fighting with the aggression needed to get the win over the home fighter.
This won’t be a home fight for either Matthysse or Peterson, so there’s less of a chance of seeing one of them on the receiving end of a hometown decision.