Saturday, May 18, 2013

Matthysse stuns Peterson in A.C,

By John McMullen

ATLANTIC CITY (The Phanatic Magazine) - The heavy-hitting WBC interim super lightweight champion Lucas Matthysse stunned IBF junior welterweight kingpin Lamont Peterson in the catch-weight main event of SHOWTIME Championship Boxing at Boardwalk Hall.

Matthysse (34-2, 32 KOs) flashed his prodigious power late in Round 2 when a left hook grazed Peterson's head and sent the Washington D.C. native to the canvas.

Peterson (31-2-1) survived the round and came out firing in the third, returning the favor by sending an off balance Matthysse sprawling. That was fool's gold for Peterson, however, as another left hook from the Argentine caught Peterson flush. This time there was no recovery. Matthysse raised his arms thinking he had won but to Peterson's credit he got to his feet. The legs weren't there, though, and a right-left combo ended Peterson's night.

The semifinal saw IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander dismiss his fourth-rated contender, United Kingdom star Lee Purdy. Originally scheduled as an Alexander  title defense, Purdy, who got the fight as an injury replacement for Kell Brooks, lost his shot at the crown before the bell even rang, weighing in above the welterweight limit of 147 pounds.

Alexander (25-1, 14 KOs), who has already won world titles in two divisions despite being only 25 years old, was far too quick for the overmatched Purdy (20-4-1) and peppered him with ease throughout but he didn't look like he was actually hurting the Brit. That said, Purdy's legs betrayed him and he couldn't answer the bell for Round 7.

In a battle between unbeaten junior middleweights, Las Vegas' Shawn Porter stayed that way, dominating Toronto's Phil Lo Greco en route to a 10-round unanimous decision. The scorecards read 99-89 and two 100-88 compilations, indicating the dominance of Porter, who happens to be nicknamed "Showtime,"
the television home of tonight's card.

Young middleweight Anthony Ogogo (2-0, 1 KO) made his U.S. debut count by pitching a shutout against Puerto Rican journeyman Edgar Perez (5-5) in a six-round bout. The 24-year-old Ogogo, who took home a Bronze Medal in the 2012 London Olympics, was the far busier fighter throwing 435 punches to just 186
for Perez. He also connected on far more, 36 percent to a dismal 17 for Perez.

Washington, D.C. light heavyweight prospect Thomas Williams (14-0, 10 KOs) remained unbeaten by easily outpointing veteran Otis Griffin (24-13) in an eight-round affair. The 25-year-old Williams improved to 3-0 in 2013 by earning all three scorecards (80-72, 79-73 and 79-73) over Griffin, the winner of the reality program "The Next Great Champ" and a former USBA Light Heavyweight Champion.

Neither fighter overwhelmed, though, Williams landed just 111 of his 379 punches and Griffin was far worse, hitting the more inexperience fighter just 58 total times and connecting on just two jabs in the entire fight.

Lamont Peterson's brother, Anthony Peterson (32-1, 20 KOs), dominated Dominic Salcido (18-5) for two rounds before the bout was stopped, purportedly due to Salcido's broken nose. After the bout, however, Salcido said he could have continued although his nose was clearly swelling. Either way Salcido was
clearly no match for Peterson, who owns wins over Javier Jauregui, Daniel Attah, and Luis Arceo, with his only loss a controversial disqualification against Brandon Rios.

In an eight round bantamweight fight Puerto Rico's Cesar Seda (25-1, 17 KO's) took an easy unanimous decision over Mexico's Miguel Tamayo (13-6-2) even winning one scorecard by a dominating 80-70 score, winning Rounds 6 and 8 by 10-8 margins despite scoring no knockdowns.

The undercard opened with a pair of lightweights earning TKOs. New York's Jamel Herring (3-0, 2 KOs), a 2012 U.S. Olympian, topped San Juan's Victor Galindo (1-2) while Toledo's Robert Easter, Jr. (4-0, 4 KOs) stopped Eduardo Guillen of Texas.

Unbeaten bantamweight Rau'Shee Warren (4-0, 2 KOs) kept the TKO parade going by dismissing Chicago's Angel Carvajal.

In a swing bout before the SHOWTIME portion of the crowd, bantamweight Haroon
Khan (2-0, 1 KO), the younger brother of former Unified super lightweight
champion Amir Khan,  needed just 57 seconds to top Vicente Medellin, who has
never won is his pro career falling to 0-6.

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