Bradley vs. Peterson on Saturday night

By Jim Dower: World Boxing Organization light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (24-0, 11 KO’s) will be facing undefeated Lamont Peterson (27-0, 13 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Agua Caliente Casino, in Rancho Mirage, California. Bradley, 26, will be making his second defense of his WBO title. Bradley last fought on August 1st, in a bout against Nate Campbell that was ruled a three round no contest due to a cut that opened up over the left eye of Campbell.

Bradley dominated every round of the fight, and based on how he was fighting, it looked as if he could have won the remainder of the bout barring a knockout. Obviously, Campbell might have been able to show something later in the fight given the amount of rounds there were still left to go in the bout, but he didn’t look good at all. Campbell, who moved up in weight from the lightweight division to take the bout, seemed too slow and no entirely at ease at the higher weight level. There was talk about a rematch between the two, but few boxing fans were interested in seeing the fight again, possibly because they got a good glimpse of how seemingly one-sided their fight was.

In May 2008, Bradley defeated British light welterweight Junior Witter by a 12 round split decision to capture the World Boxing Council title. It was a good performance from Bradley, who knocked Witter down with a big looping right hand in the 6th, and fought effectively the rest of the way through to get the win. Bradley was too fast and strong for Witter, and used his speed and power to get the better of Witter in a fight that was a lot more one-sided that the final scores would have you believe.

Peterson, 25, is the brother of lightweight contender Anthony Peterson and one of the best fighters in the light welterweight division. Peterson is coming off a 7th round TKO over Willy Blain in April of this year. Other than Blain, Peterson has wins over Rogelio Castaneda Jr., Antonio Mesquita and Humberto Toledo, all good fighters. Besides that, Peterson was said to have given Floyd Mayweather Jr. huge problems in a sparring session shortly before Mayweather’s bout with Juan Manuel Marquez this year. Peterson is an excellent inside fighter and very tough to beat in close. Bradley, if he’s smart, will choose to keep Peterson on the outside if he wants to avoid trouble with him.

Bradley is hoping of using a win over Peterson to possibly get a fight with Mayweather or Pacquiao in the future. The odds of that happening are very slim at this time, due to Bradley’s limited visibility among boxing fans. However, if Bradley can look good against Peterson on Saturday night and then pick up another two or three good wins, he could fin himself in position to get a big money fight against one of the big named fighters. Pacquiao may retire before giving Bradley a shot, but Mayweather remains a worthy target for Bradley.

Look for Bradley to dominate Peterson with his speed and hard combinations. Bradley will likely be too fast for Peterson to handle.

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