Thursday, March 28, 2024  |

News

Peterson-Matthysse finalized for May 18

Fighters Network
22
Mar

alt

IBF junior welterweight beltholder Lamont Peterson will make his second defense against RING No. 1-rated 140-pounder Lucas Matthysse on May 18 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Showtime, according to Goldenn Boy CEO Richard Schaefer.

Fighthype.com initially reported the story.



“We got confirmation last night that Peterson is in. He wants the fight, and so does Lucas Matthysse. They are very excited about it,” said Schaefer.

“I think that this is a terrific fight. It’s one of the most important fights that you can make in the sport. It’s a much-anticipated fight. I think that, first and foremost, for the fight fans, it’s important and I can not wait.”

Peterson (31-1-1, 16 knockouts) is coming off last month’s eighth-round stoppage of ex-titleholder Kendall Holt at The D.C. Armory in his Washington, D.C., and is 4-0-1, with three knockouts since falling to current WBO welterweight beltholder Tim Bradley by unanimous decision in December of 2009.

Peterson earned his belt via a disputed split-decision victory which dethroned two-division titlewinner Amir Khan as IBF and WBA titleholder in December of 2011. Khan was subsequently knocked out by current RING, WBA and WBC 140-pound champion Danny Garcia in the fourth round in July of 2012.

Matthysse (33-2, 31 KOs) has had five straight stoppage wins since sandwiching disputed decision losses to left-handers Judah and Devon Alexander in June of 2010 and June of 2011, respectively, around an eighth-round stoppage of southpaw DeMarcus Corley in January of 2011. Matthysse is coming off January’s first-round knockoutt of Mike Dallas Jr.

At the post-fight press conference following his win over Holt, Peterson expressed his desire to face Matthysse.

“I don’t think he’s going to pose any problems for me,” said Peterson, 29, who signed with Golden Boy in January, and ended a 14-month layoff with his eighth-round stoppage of Holt.

alt

“A lot of times, if you’ve seen my recent fights, I always have to track somebody down. That doesn’t really give me a chance to really box. But I think that at this point, you know, if I fight Matthysse, it will give me a chance to do a little bit of boxing and to bang when I want to.”

Earlier this month, Schaefer said that he would like to see the winner of an April 27, Showtime-televised clash between Garcia (25-0, 16 KOs) and former titleholder Zab Judah at Barclays Center face that from the Peterson-Matthysse matchup.

The winner of the Garcia-Judah vs. Peterson-Matthysse fight would then Khan (27-3, 19 KOs), assuming Khan is able to overcome former two-time lightweight beltholder Julio Diaz in a bout that will be part of the Garcia-Judah broadcast.

“The plan would be with Peterson and Matthysse, and Garcia and Judah and Amir Khan, we clearly have the best fighters at 140 pounds. So we would like to find out who is No. 1 there by the end of the year,” said Schaefer.

“The path to that is the best fighting the best, and I think that with Matthysse and Peterson, you have a terrific fight, and with Judah and Garcia, you have a terrific fight, and the winners will fight each other, and then, the winner of that will fight sometime in December, Amir Khan.”

Khan will face Diaz in a 143-pound catchweight matchup at The Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, England.

“What that does, with the 143 pounds for Amir, is that it keeps the door open for Amir. So we’ll see how these series of fights shake out,” said Schaefer.

“And then we’ll see if Amir Khan is going to want to go back down to 140 by losing those three extra pounds, or if he is going to want to gain an extra four pounds to go to 147. But Amir wants to clean up the 140-pound weight class and, I think, what better way to do that than a big December fight against the winner of these other great matchups.”

Peterson-Matthysse will be the main event to a co-feature between Alexander (24-1, 13 KOs) and Englishman Kell Brook (29-0, 19 KOs).

alt

Schaefer could also match unbeaten welterweights Shawn Porter (20-0-1, 14 KOs), of Akron, Ohio, and Canadian Phil LoGreco (25-0, 14 KOs).

“That’s a possibility,” said Schaefer. “So there might be a third fight added to May 18, and that would be two undefeated welterweights, with Shawn Porter going against Phil LoGreco.”

In his last fight in December, Porter battled to a draw with Diaz. Meanwhile, in his last fight in November, LoGreco rose from a first-round knockdown to halt Daniel Sostre in the seventh.

Set to make his professional debut on the Khan-Diaz card in England is 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Anthony Ogogo, of Great Britain, who signed with Golden Boy in December.

“If all goes well Anthony Ogogo with his pro debut in Sheffield, underneath Amir Khan,” said Schaefer, “then the plan would be to have Anthony Ogogo fight on May 18 from the Boardwalk Hall as well.”

JOHNATHON BANKS-SETH MITCHELL II ON ADRIEN BRONER-PAULIE MALIGNAGGI CARD?

When WBC lightweight titleholder Adrien “The Problem” Broner (26-0, 22 KOs) rises to meet WBA welterweight titleholder Paulie Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KOs) on June 22 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Schaefer said heavyweight Seth “Mayhem” Mitchell (25-1-1, 19 KOs), of Brandywine, Md., could have his rematch with Johnathon Banks (29-1-1, 19 KOs).

Coming off a second-round knockout to Banks in November, Mitchell’s Feburary return bout with his rival was canceled after Banks suffered a broken right thumb.

“Seth Mitchell and Johnathon Banks could be on Broner and Malignaggi,” said Schaefer. “That’s something that I’m working on.”

WELTERWEIGHTS KEITH THURMAN, ANDRE BERTO COULD GO IN JULY IN SEPARATE BOUTS

Schaefer said he is also trying to place hard-hitting Keith “One Time” Thurman (20-0, 18 KOs) and former two-time titleholder Andre Berto (28-2, 22 KOs) on the same card in separate welterweight bouts.

Earlier this month, Thurman, a 24-year-old from Clearwater, Fla, pounded out a unanimous decision over Jan Zaveck.

A 29-year-old from Winter Haven, Fla., Berto is coming off November’s unanimous decision loss to Robert Guerrero, after having previously stopped Zaveck in the fifth round in September of 2011` to win the since-vacated IBF 147-pound belt.

FLOYD MAYWEATHER-ROBERT GUERRERO CARD SHAPING UP

Key participants are being lined up for the undercard of the main event of the May 4 Showtime Pay Per View welterweight clash between pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0, 26 KOs) and two-division titlewinner Robert Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KOs) at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Detroit prospect J’Leon Love (15-0, 8 KOs), who is coming off last month’s unanimous decision over Chicago’s Derek Findley, wiill face former junior middleweight Gabriel Rosado (21-6, 13 KOs), according to Schaefer and Rosado’s promoter, Russell Peltz.

Unbeaten Leo Santa Cruz, who recently vacated his IBF bantamweight belt to enter the junior featherweight ranks, is also slated to face Venezuela’s Alexander Munoz (36-4, 28KOs).

The Mayweather-Guerrero card already includes rising two-division titlewinner Abner Mares (25-0, 13 KOs) challenging WBC featherweight titleholder Daniel Ponce de Leon (44-4, 35 KOs).

Photo by Juan Marshall

Photo by Naoki Fukuda

Photo by Tom Casino

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]

SIGN UP TO GET RING NEWS ALERTS