Lamont Peterson lands on Edgar Santana in 2014. Photo:Naomi Fukuda

Lamont Peterson wants to fight.

The former junior welterweight titleholder hasn’t seen action since he won a majority decision on Oct. 17 against Felix Diaz and is eager to return to the ring, so much so that Peterson, who is nursing a sore right ankle he hurt in a basketball game last month, said he was open to contesting his next bout at 154 pounds and would even go as heavy as middleweight to end his career. That being said, Peterson sees himself as a natural welterweight and wants to continue to campaign in that division because of all the opportunities available.

“I would like (to fight) as soon as possible at this point,” Peterson told RingTV.com on Monday night. “I usually stay pretty busy but eight or nine months is a little too long for me. I’m getting a little older but eight or nine months is not ideal. If I could have it my way, I would fight every three or four months.”

Peterson (34-3-1) is advised by Al Haymon, who works with many of the top welterweights, such as Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, Amir Khan, Danny Garcia and Errol Spence, all of whom have significant fights ahead of them. Does Peterson feel as though he’s been lost in the shuffle?

“I’m not sure,” Peterson said. “I try not to get into all of that. I just know that when I’m called to fight I’m always ready. So I’ll leave it at that. I’ll leave it to (trainer Barry Hunter) and Al to straighten all those things out. But personally I would like to fight more often.”

Whenever he does return, it won’t be at 140 pounds, he said. Peterson is finished with a division he has occupied nearly his entire career since turning pro in 2004. “I’m definitely going to try at a higher weight class,” he said. “Probably a little above welterweight at this point. But if it’s a big fight, a title fight or anything like that, I could do welterweight, but I prefer to be a little heavier than that. Definitely not 140- that’s pretty much out the door at this point.”

Peterson is open to fighting his next bout at 154 pounds if the right opportunity presents itself. “If they offered it to me, me personally I would take it now,” he said. The 32-year-old even predicts before he retires he will probably fight at 160 since it’s a weight he feels comfortable at, though again, it’s far from his natural weight at the moment.

“When I’m training and I’m around that weight I feel really good,” said Peterson, who bought a house outside of Washington, D.C. after his last fight. “When I get down to mid 150s, I start to feel the weight drain and to try and force it to get down to ’40 or even ’47 is a push. So I think I can max it out at 160.”

It’s not Peterson’s way to call out opponents, but he’s open to fighting any of the top welterweights. He would also like to face Lucas Matthysse again, who blitzed him in three rounds in 2013. The likelihood of that happening is low, however, since Matthysse is with Golden Boy and Peterson is aligned with Haymon and the two rarely do business with the other. “Yeah, if possible,” he said of facing the Argentinean again. “Not sure how likely that would be but if possible then yes.”

While Peterson has sparred “100s of rounds” with Adrien Broner in the past, he has recently only worked with lightweight Robert Easter Jr. (16-0, 13 KOs) at the HeadBangers Boxing Gym in Washington, D.C., to help him prepare for his bout with Algenis Mendez on April 1 at the DC Armory. Easter-Mendez is the co-feature of Broner’s junior welterweight title match with Ashley Theophane as part of a PBC on Spike TV card. Peterson’s younger brother, Anthony, is also on the show. Peterson nearly landed a fight on the April 1 card with Andre Berto, who is facing a rematch with Victor Ortiz instead.

Peterson is taking the week off to rest his ankle, which is still sore after he rolled it playing basketball last month. “Right now it feels great but I still want to baby-it a little more,” Peterson said. “I’ll try it out on Monday and it should be ready to go.”