Danny Garcia was frustrated and frazzled by Lamont Peterson for five rounds of a fast and furious track meet. In the end, it didn’t matter, as Garcia earned a narrow majority decision Saturday night at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center to stay undefeated.
Garcia vs Peterson highlights: April 11, 2015
Peterson (33-3-1, 17 KOs) came out smooth and composed, circling Garcia (30-0, 17 KOs) and staying well out of the danger zone in the early going. He knew it, too. Garcia threw his arms up in the fourth round, aggravated that Peterson wouldn’t stand and trade. Give a man an audience, though, and he’ll ham it up: By the 10th round Peterson started doing the Ali shuffle, and Garcia gave him the Groucho Marx routine right back.
But once Lamont Peterson was closing with Danny Garcia from the sixth on, Garcia was able to get in there with solid combinations, primarily to the body. It was enough to earn two 115-113 cards from judges Kevin Morgan and Steve Weisfeld and a 114-114 card from Don Ackerman.
“I’m not sure I gave him the first half,” Peterson said in the ring after the fight. “Just because I was moving a lot doesn’t mean I was losing rounds. I came on strong. It was a close fight and the judges gave him a decision.”
Garcia tried to press the action in the third, grazing Peterson with an overhand right and closing with a strong body shot, but he still wasn’t able to make solid contact. He stuck a right that snapped Peterson’s head back in the fifth, but Peterson still looked fast and nimble.
In the sixth, though, Peterson stood in front of Garcia and traded, and it may have cost him. Peterson tried to get back to a strong defense in the seventh, but he was circling slower from that point on. He did enough damage to open a cut on Garcia’s right eye, but never found another gear to either put Garcia away or continue to evade Garcia’s heavier punches.
“We don’t have a reset button in life,” Peterson’s trainer Barry Hunter said. “All we can do is move forward and we will be back.”
For full highlights, photos and video of Garcia vs Peterson, check out our fight night coverage.
Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson trade punches Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
