De La Hoya says he’ll work on Danny Garcia vs. Lamont Peterson fight

By Boxing News - 08/13/2014 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: Responding to small pockets of interest from boxing fans in a potential unification fight between IBF light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson and WBA/WBC 140 pound champion Danny Garcia, Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya says he’s going to start working on putting together the fight. He wants to make the fight for the fans, who really aren’t beating down Golden Boy’s door to see the fight. To honest, Peterson still hasn’t been looked at the same way by fans ever since he was obliterated by Lucas Matthysse. Fans would probably prefer to see a Garcia vs. Matthysse rematch or Garcia vs. Mauricio Herrera rather than seeing Garcia matched up against a guy that Matthysse easily beat in Peterson.

The obvious question is whether Peterson and Garcia’s mutual adviser Al Haymon wants to see the two of them face each other. It doesn’t matter what De La Hoya, Golden Boy, the fans or the fighters want. If Haymon isn’t interested in putting Garcia and Peterson together for a fight, then the fight won’t get made, period.

You can see why it might not be a high priority for Haymon to put together a fight between Peterson and Garcia given that he’s the adviser for both of them. The loser of the fight will no longer be a world title holder.

That’s a loss in easy cash that they bring in with mismatches like Edgar Santana and Rod Salka. There’s easy money to be made with Peterson and Garcia fighting fringe contenders or non-ranked fighters.

The money flows in as long as both guys are champions. But once one of them loses, and then the cash dries up because they become just a normal contender. Garcia mentioned possibly fighting Peterson without their titles being on the line. It would be a similar situation as Peterson’s recent fight against Lucas Matthysse last year.

Instead of the fight being a title defense for Peterson, he had the fight at a catch-weight of 141. So when he did get beaten badly by Matthysse by a 3rd round TKO, Peterson kept his IBF strap. But it definitely won’t help the loser of this fight even if they can still keep their title by fighting at a catch-weight instead. Haymon would have a fighter that is seen as a paper champion after they lose, and that obviously would result in less money.

A fight between Garcia and Peterson really isn’t that big of a deal. De La Hoya would be better off matching Garcia against the winner of the Shawn Porter vs. Kell Brook fight than putting him in with Peterson. Of course, Garcia wouldn’t likely have a big weight advantage over them like he did against little Rod Salka last Saturday. Garcia reportedly rehydrated to 155 on the night of the fight, and looked like a middleweight against a guy that probably weighed no more than 142 at best.



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