By Chris Robinson
This Friday night, junior welterweight contender Lamont Peterson will engage in yet another crucial battle as he faces off with Dominican Victor Cayo in an IBF eliminator from the Cosmopolitan Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s a must-win fight for Peterson, who admits that he might consider retiring if unsuccessful this weekend.
Peterson is a blue-collar fighter with a polished boxing style and proven grit, yet the Washington, D.C. native has yet to fully realize his fistic dreams up to this point. In his first title bid in December of 2009 against then-WBO champion Timothy Bradley he was dropped in the third round and outhustled for several stanzas after despite offering up a spirited effort as he would eventually fall on the scorecards.
Peterson’s last fight was another gut check as he was floored twice in the 3rd round against ‘Viscous’ Victor Ortiz and seemed to be on the brink of being stopped this past December in the Mandalay Bay. Peterson would dig down and turn the tide of the bout, perhaps fighting off of pure instinct at times, as he rallied to pull out a majority draw while salvaging the momentum of his career.
A victory over Cayo will put Peterson in position for a crack at unified champion Amir Khan, who last weekend stopped Zab Judah in the fifth round to add the IBF trinket alongside the WBA crown he already held. It’s a fight Peterson would relish and one in which he would have a specific game plan for Khan that no other fighter has yet to really utilize.
Peterson is completely down to earth and his modest nature shined through during our discussion this afternoon right outside of the Mont Royal Room inside of the Cosmopolitan. We touched on a variety of topics, including his future, how he claims to have blacked out momentarily after being dropped by Ortiz, whether he thinks Victor can hang with Floyd Mayweather on September 17th, Mayweather’s drug-testing crusade in the sport, and much more.
In his own words, this is what Lamont had to say…
Sizing up Victor Cayo…
“Overall he’s a good fighter. He likes to box; kind of rangy fighter. Awkward in some ways but I am prepared for him.”
What a loss to Cayo would mean to his career…
“I would have to take a long look at things, really. I know eventually I will get what I want out of this boxing game but at the end of the day boxing takes a toll on you. I’m now 27 years old and a setback like that, a loss, would be a really big setback. It’s just something that I would have to think about.”
Finding a way to survive the hellish 3rd round against Victor Ortiz…
“I guess that’s just something that is in me because I can’t take the credit for it. I tell you this; in the third round after he landed that punch, I didn’t remember much of nothing. My corner was telling me what to do and I was trying to listen to them. People say that ‘Oh, you did this’ and ‘That happened’ and I was like ‘Really?’. I guess it was all those years of just preparing, training hard at the gym, back to amateur fights, and I had to get off the canvas and get up. It’s just something that was instilled in me.”
Losing and learning against Timothy Bradley…
“Anytime you lose, you’re disappointed. And that was the first loss that I had as a professional. I was really disappointed but at the end of the day I was happy too because I learned a lot in the fight and during the training leading up to the fight.”
Thoughts on Amir Khan’s victory over Zab Judah…
“I thought Amir Khan did what he had to do to win but overall I just thought it was a boring fight. You could say that [Judah] could have done this and done that, but to me he just looked confused from round one and he never made the adjustment to switch anything or try to make things go his way.”
How to fight Amir Khan…
“Khan is usually the one who likes to counterpunch and sometimes he will lead off but a lot of times when he leads, he leaves himself open. So I would make him lead as much as possible.”
Ortiz’s chances against Floyd Mayweather on September 17th…
“I think he has a puncher’s chance but I think overall the fact that he doesn’t jab enough will be his problem. [Mayweather] will control the pace, he will control the fight, all based on Victor not jabbing. And when he does put a jab out there it’s like a probing jab. It’s not really like a real jab.”
Whether Mayweather’s drug crusade is good for the sport…
“Always. Anytime he feels strongly about people cheating, and throughout boxing history you have had some who do cheat. Anytime you can eliminate that and everybody is on the fair stage, I think it’s a good thing.”
Does cheating take place behind closed doors?
“Oh yeah, it exists. I mean you can’t just really just point your fingers at certain people but it’s a sport, it’s a business, money is involved, and people want to win that bad. I know there are people that cheat. I’m just going to say that I hope that anybody I fight doesn’t cheat or find out that they cheat.”
Whether Juan Manuel Marquez can hang with Manny Pacquiao in their third fight…
“I think at this stage in Marquez, and he’s one of my favorite fighters today, I think he loses. The size, age, and it’s been like three or four years now and Marquez is getting up in age. Pacquiao is learning more and more each fight and I think he learned a lot from the two fights with Marquez, so I just think overall right now Pacquiao is in better condition.”
Why Pacquiao-Mayweather never happened…
“I don’t know. I just hope that it does happen so we can settle all the beef between the two.”
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