Lamont Peterson & Felix Diaz Jr make weight

By Boxing News - 10/16/2015 - Comments

Image: Lamont Peterson & Felix Diaz Jr make weightBy Dan Ambrose: Former IBF/WBA 140lb champion Lamont Peterson (33-3-1, 17 KOs) weighed in successfully on Friday for his fight against unbeaten 2008 Olympic gold medalist Felix Diaz Jr. (17-0, 8 KOs) for their fight this Saturday night on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC from the EagleBank Arena, in Fairfax, Virginia. Peterson weighed in at 144lbs. His opponent Diaz weighed in slightly heavier at 144.2lbs.

Peterson, 31, needs a win to keep himself in contention for a world title shot against IBF light welterweight champion Cesar Cuenca. Peterson lost his last fight in April to Danny Garcia by a 12 round majority decision.

It was a mistake on Peterson’s part to fight passively in the first seven rounds of the fight. He gave Garcia far too much respect, and this enabled him to win rounds by default. When Peterson finally did start fighting hard in the 8th, he discovered that it was easy for him to walk the shorter Garcia down and batter him with shots to the head and body.

Peterson can’t afford to lose the fight to the 5’5” Diaz because it’s a winnable fight for him. Diaz was a good amateur fighter, but he’s not the same guy in the pros. He’s too short, and he’s fighting in the wrong division.

At Diaz’s height, he should be fighting at either super featherweight or lightweight, not at welterweight. You can make an argument that Diaz is a poor version of Shawn Porter once you take away his punching power and hand speed.

“I like the opportunity but the pressure is on Lamont fighting in his hometown. I don’t feel any pressure coming into his hometown,” Diaz said. “I don’t feel any pressure to keep my undefeated record because I trained to win. The Olympics were the most pressure I’ve ever felt and it was my proudest moment as a fighter and as a man. It’s one of my biggest achievements.

If Peterson loses this fight then he’s going to be in bad shape in terms of his career. The last thing that Peterson needs is to be losing to the likes of Diaz. Peterson would be better off targeting WBC light welterweight champion Viktor Postol. At 5’9″, Peterson would have the height to give the 5’11” Postol a really tough fight. He’d also have the inside game to give him problems. The 5’6″ Lucas Matthysse was too short to deal with Postol’s height and reach.

Other fights on the card:

Prichard Colon vs. Terrel Williams
Anthony Peterson vs. Mike Oliver
Demond Nicholson vs. Milton Nuñez
Kareem Martin vs. Christopher Degollado



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