Bill Calogero, TheDailySports.com: The Peterson Brothers (Photo: Scott Foster/For SHOWTIME)continued their winning ways, both adding a “W “ to their records in Co-Main Event bouts from the Hard Rock Café in Biloxi, Mississippi Friday night. Both bouts were broadcast live on ShowTime’s ShoBox Series to kick off 2008. Anthony Peterson employed a methodical approach stopping Jose Izquierdo with an 8th round KO in their scheduled ten round Lightweight bout. Peterson used his jab and impressive defensive skill, combined with assistance from Izquierdo as he wore himself out attempting to keep the fight fast-paced, to earn the knockout victory.
In the first round, Jose Izquierdo came out clearly the aggressor. He was controlling the action by throwing punches in bunches from all angles. He wasn’t landing all of them of course, but in my opinion took the round. Anthony Peterson basically concentrated on his defense and establishing his jab..
The second round picked up where the first one left off. Jose came out working both the body and head of Anthony Peterson. Peterson was able to block most of the harder punches and seemed to prevent Izquierdo from landing anything flush. Peterson was landing the harder punches but Izquierdo was the aggressor and when all was said and done, in my opinion, landed more punches to win the round on my scorecard. Peterson simply did not throw enough punches to win this round.
Round three again picked up where the second left off. Izquierdo was the busier fighter. He was throwing punches from all angles, some wild, but some landing flush to score. Peterson continues to work his defense and use his crisp jab. He clearly was taking his time and by the end of the round, Jose Izquierdo was breathing hard, but still edged out the round on my card.
During the fourth round Peterson began to let his hands go and take control of the fight. Izquierdo, as he did the prior three rounds, came out the aggressor, throwing punches but was not able to land many flush. Peterson on the other hand, doubled and tripled up his jab and finally began letting his hands go mixing in his right hand to complement his effective jab. Because of his aggressiveness and quantity of punches, Jose kept this round close to score however I gave the round to Anthony Peterson because I felt he landed the harder punches and was clearly landing the more accurate ones. He also continued to showcase his defensive talent. This round went to Peterson on my card.
The fifth and sixth rounds were carbon copies of each other. Peterson continued to let his hands go, following a very crisp and powerful jab with solid shots to the head and body of his opponent. Izquierdo was running out of gas and could not land many of the punches he continued to throw. As Jose continued to tire, Peterson seemingly was able to land his punches whenever and wherever he wanted. I gave both the 5th & 6th rounds to Anthony Peterson.
As the seventh round started, it was obvious that it was the beginning of the end for Jose Izquierdo. A solid left hook stunned Jose and a few shots later, a right hook put Izquierdo down. He was on his feet quickly. Peterson went in for the kill and unleashed a barrage of punches, which sent Izquierdo back into the ropes. Looking like he was ready to go, Jose, somehow, was able to work his way away from the ropes into the center of the ring and survive the round by throwing punches from all angles, keeping Peterson in a “defensive” mode.
It was clear to all that Jose Izquierdo was ready to go. As the bell sounded to start the eighth round, Anthony Peterson came out the aggressor. He was letting his hands go as his corner had instructed. He was doubling and tripling his jab and was able to land hard right hooks to the body and head of Izquierdo. A short powerful left stunned Jose and this time Peterson followed it with a five-punch combination that sent Izquierdo down for an eight-count. As referee Keith Hughes let the fight continue, Peterson continued his attack, landing a double right hook followed by a left hook that sent Izquierdo down and out.
The official time of the KO was 2:54 of the eighth round. Anthony Peterson improves to 26-0 (19 KOs) while Jose Izquierdo drops to 16-2-1 (13 KOs).
Lamont Peterson won a unanimous ten-round decision over Antonio Mesquita in their Jr. Welterweight bout.
In what appeared to be a great match up between two un-beaten fighters on paper, the actual fight was clearly a one-sided affair.
Lamont Peterson used his all around superior boxing skill to dominate this fight from the opening bell, until the final second ticked away to end the bout. It was a textbook boxing performance from Peterson.
He was able to effectively use his jab, which was fast, crisp and powerful, to setup up a full arsenal of punches that included them all, right and left hooks, straight punches from both hands, uppercuts, you name it and Peterson threw it. Not only did he unleash every type of punch imaginable, they were all thrown with extreme accuracy.
Antonio Mesquita came into the fight looking for the knock out. He tried the best he could to unleash a powerful punch, but failed to hurt Peterson. He faced two big obstacles that prevented his knockout from happening.
The first was the fact that Peterson was able to keep the fight moving and was dictating the action, so Antonio was never able to land anything flush. The other problem was that nothing, and I mean nothing that Mesquita threw during the entire fight even remotely looked like it hurt Peterson one bit.
The fight got a little ugly during the tenth and final round resulting in referee Bill Clancy deducting a point from Mesquita for punching on the break. Other than that is was basically a boxing lesson issue by Lamont Peterson.
One judge scored the fight 98-93, one had it 99-90 and the third saw it at 100-89, all in favor of Lamont Peterson. TheDailySports.com scored the fight 100-89 also in favor of Lamont Peterson.
Peterson stays unbeaten, improving to 24-0 (11 KOs), while Antonio Mesquita suffers his first defeat as a pro dropping to 34-1 (27 KOs).
Green & Williams Go Distance
Allan Green had to let it go to the scorecards, winning a unanimous ten-round decision over Rubin Williams in their Super Middleweight Bout, which was the Main Event on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights, broadcasted live from the Osage Million Dollar Elm Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma Friday night.
Green, who promised a KO victory had to settle for a ten-round snooze fest instead. Williams displayed a quick, snappy jab, but did not throw enough punches at any time during the bout to win a round on my scorecard.
Green, used his jab, followed by solid punches from start to finish to control the fight.
The only knockdown came at the close of the ninth round when a stinging left jab landed flush on the jaw of Williams that sent him down. He was up quickly and complained about the ruling, but it was correct. The knockdown was from the punch.
One of the judges had it 98-91; the second saw it at 99-89, while the third had it at 99-90, all in favor of Allan Green. TheDailySports.com scored the fight a shutout in favor of Green at 100-89.
Green improves to 26-1 (18 KOs) and Rubin Williams drops to 29-3-1 (16 KOs).
The fight was boring to say the least. Although it looked good on paper, it was clearly a mis-match. What made things worse in my opinion, Joe T. and Teddy A. could only talk about one thing during the fight…..the fact that Green kept looking at his feet during the bout. Not only did they cause the viewer to watch Green look at his feet too, they had the staff counting the times. I am not sure if they were just as disgusted as I was with the fight or if they really thought that we should all watch Green’s feet instead of the fight.
On the under card, Zahir Raheem wanted to win in dramatic fashion and he did just that by landing a crushing left hook to KO Ricardo Dominguez just over a minute into the scheduled eight-round contest.
Raheem improves to 29-2 (17 KOs) and Ricardo Dominguez drops to 23-2-2 (15 KOs).
Also on the under card, George Tahdooahnippah and James Cook battled to a Majority Draw in their four round middleweight contest.
Tahdooahnippah started out strong, but Cook was able to battle back and earn the Draw. One ringside judge saw the fight 39-37 in favor of Tahdooahnippah while the other two scored the fight even at 38-38, resulting in the Majority Draw.
George Tahdooahnippah either had not trained for this fight, or he is a very over-rated 9-0-1 (8 KOs) fighter. James Cook, despite the long layoff, came into the bout in the best shape of his pro career and was satisfied with the decision. His record now stands at 10-3-1 (7 KOs).
Finally, in the best-televised fight on the card, Carson Jones won a six-round majority decision over Jose Gonzalez in their Jr. Middleweight bout.
This fight was non-stop action from the opening bell until the final one. Both fighters seized the chance to be on TV and performed like it.
They both came in dry due to the fact that Raheem’s fight had ended so quickly. Gonzalez seemed to be the favorite, but Jones was the local product. The end result was a terrific fight.
There were no knockdowns during the bout, but both landed hard shots. Midway through the final round, an unintentional head butt opened up a severe cut over Gonzalez’s eye. The ringside doctor checked it and he was permitted to continue and finish the fight.
Two judges scored the fight in Jones’ favor, 57-56 and 58-56 while the third saw it even at 57-57 resulting in the majority decision victory for Carson Jones. Jones improves to 13-5-1 (7 KOs) and Jose Gonzalez loses for only the second time, dropping to 11-2 (9 KOs). It is certain we will see both of these guys in the near future.
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