By Scott Gilfoid: Errol Spence Jr. is not looking past his title defense against former light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson on January 20th, as he says he’s just as powerful as Kell Brook, and he could be even tougher than him. For the boxing fans that don’t recall, Brook (36-2, 25 KOs) took a knee in the 11th round of his fight with Spence on May 27, and was counted out by the referee.
Brook chose not to get back up and continue fighting. Spence was on the other side of the ring when Brook the knee. He was approaching Brook when he opted to take the knee. Afterwards, a lot of boxing fans criticized Brook with the way he bowed out of the fight. Brook did have an eye injury that he suffered, but there are some who feel that he should have gone out on his shield, injury and all rather than quitting on one knee.
”I don’t think he’s got anything I haven’t come across before,” said Spence to skysports.com about Peterson. ”He might be as strong as Kell Brook, so I will be physically prepared and mentally prepared – even if it is a tougher fight than Kell Brook,” said Spence.
Peterson is definitely the type that will go out on his shield rather than quitting. Peterson’s losses in the past have come against Danny Garcia, Lucas Matthysse and Tim Bradley. He took punishment in each of those fights. Matthysse just blew Peterson out of the water in stopping him in round 3 of their fight on May 18, 2013. Peterson used the wrong approach to the Matthysse fight by trying to fight the Argentinian in close. That was a huge mistake, as he was right in his wheelhouse much of the time.
Matthysse dropped Peterson 3 times in the fight before it was halted in round 3. Peterson was later beaten by Danny Garcia by a 12 round majority decision 3 fights later on April 11, 2015. Peterson could have won that fight but he was too cautious in the early going and just allowed Garcia to have his way for the first 7 rounds. When Peterson did start pressuring Garcia starting in round 8, he was able to dominate him and wear him down in the final 5 rounds. Peterson started too late though for him to get the win.
“Lamont Peterson is very experienced and he’s got a big heart,” said Spence. “You can’t get more experience than I did going over to Sheffield fighting against Kell Brook.”
Spence is going to need to be ready for a real war on January 20, because Peterson is not going to give up easily in this televised fight. Peterson will be fighting tooth and nail from start to finish, because that’s the way he is. Peterson has a ton of heart, and there’s a lot riding on this fight if he can win. Peterson would set himself up for a bigger payday in the rematch with Spence, and he would be in the ruining for a unification match against WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman.
Spence’s experience against Brook might not be enough for him to breeze past a seasoned veteran like Peterson. Brook folded too easily against Spence for the fight to be much of a win for him. After round 6, Brook was done for all intents and purposes. There was not much coming back from Brook from round 7 until the bitter end in the 11th. That was little more than a 6-round fight for Spence.
The 33-year-old Peterson has a nice 2-fight winning streak going for him since his defeat to Danny Garcia. In his last 2 fights, Peterson has beaten David Avanesyan and Felix Diaz. Those weren’t dominant performances, however.
Spence vs. Peterson will be televised live on Showtime Championship Boxing on Saturday, January 20 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The undercard will have IBF World lightweight champion Robert Easter Jr. defending his title against former world champion Javier Fortuna. Also on the undercard is light heavyweight contender Marcus Browne fighting Francy Ntetu, heavyweight Adam Kownacki facing Iago Kiladze, light welterweight Anthony Peterson fighting Luis Eduardo Florez and Amanda Serrano facing an opponent still to be determined.