By Allan Fox: IBF light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (31-2-1, 16 KO’s) will be making a second title defense of his International Boxing Federation crown at the end of the month against Canada’s Dierry Jean (25-0, 17 KO’s) on January 25th at the DC Armory in Washington, DC.
Peterson, 29, has made only one defense of his IBF title since beating Amir Khan to capture it in December of 2011 by a controversial 12 round split decision. Peterson defended the title last year in stopping Kendall Holt in the 8th round in March of 2013. However, in making a non-title fight against Lucas Matthysse last May, Peterson was blasted out in 3 quick rounds.
He was no match for Matthysse, and he gave away his only chance of winning the fight by choosing to stand directly in front of him and not using his jab or movement to try and box the hard hitting Argentinian. It was smart for Peterson to make sure that his title wasn’t on the line for the fight because he at least got to keep his belt after the loss. It was a free payday for Peterson, even though he ended up looking really bad in getting blown out the way he did by Matthysse.
It’s hard to figure out if the 31-year-old Jean is as good as his unbeaten resume would have you believe, because his handlers have failed to match him against anyone good up until now. Jean has been fighting for 7 years and the best guys that he’s been in with are Cleotis Pendavaris, Ivan Cano and Lanardo Tyner. That kind of makes you more than a little suspicious about Jean’s talent level, because when a fighter is matched as softly as he’s been, it suggests that his promoter might have serious reservations about his ability to compete against the top contenders in the division.
It’s just lucky that the IBF was willing to give Jean a high ranking based on his poor opposition he’s fought, because if he was forced to fight someone good to get to where he is now, it’s anyone’s guess whether he would still be unbeaten. Jean looks like an okay fighter, but nothing special and certainly not like a fighter with a 25-0 record. That’s an inflated resume to the extreme, and it’s too bad his promoters didn’t put him in with any quality fighters along the way to get him better prepared for what he’ll be facing on January 25th against Peterson.
Comments are closed.