Danny Garcia hardly looked a cut-above the Junior Welterweight division’s “other” champion, but his unbeaten record remained untouched as he scored a tight majority decision victory over Lamont Peterson on Saturday night.
Garcia seemed to maintain a slight edge over Peterson through the first half of the fight. He threw some fierce combinations but couldn’t land in great numeration as Peterson gamboled about the ring, jolting Garcia with quick combinations as he would approach, and keeping his distance for much of the early-going.
This strategy, one which he perpetuated early in the fight, left him with little to show in the short term. He was behind on the scorecards, but not by much around the halfway mark. After spending most of the fight bumping and gliding his way around the ring, Peterson started hovering in the seventh and eighth rounds. Soon enough, he was pegging his ground and ripping Garcia’s body with combinations.
The fight had swung into another direction, so it had appeared. Garcia was depleted from rounds of following Peterson on his ring-round expedition and couldn’t do anything but absolve his previous tactics and simply look to survive the springy 31-year-old’s rally. He did the best he could to remain competitive, but he was the second of two men in the latter half of the fight.
Fortunately for Garcia, the judges seemingly frowned upon the generosity of Peterson’s feet and the avarice of his fists — in the first half of the fight, that is. Peterson didn’t do enough to earn the victory. The judges scored the fight 115-113 (Garcia), 115-113 (Garcia), and 114-114. A majority decision win for Danny “Swift” Garcia. He improves to 30-0 with this win; one in which neither his WBA/WBC nor Lamont Peterson’s IBF Light Welterweight title was on the line.
It is not yet known whether Garcia will remain at the 140-lb weight class or make his move to a talent-rich Welterweight division. Garcia-Peterson was contested at a catchweight of 143lbs; four pounds shy of the Welterweight limit. Garcia stated post-fight that a rematch with Peterson was possible, but would most likely take place at 147-lbs, and that he felt it was necessary for him to make that jump in the near future. It is just a question of if it will happen immediately, or if he’ll make another defense of his title belts.
Much of Garcia’s future still hangs in the balance. One thing is for sure: This fight is worthy of a second look at whichever weight class it may take place.
Catch full highlights of Garcia-Peterson below, courtesy of NBC Sports:
