This Saturday Night: Lamont Peterson vs Lucas Matthysse

Credit: Showtime.

In February, it had been 14 months before we last saw Lamont Peterson. He had achieved the biggest win of his career – a split decision victory over junior-welterweight titlist Amir Khan. Unfortunately, he failed the post-fight drug test and he was stripped of the WBA light-welterweight crown.

He finally returned and took on Kendall Holt on February 22nd, 2013. It was the best “Friday Night Fights” offering of the year. While he showed some ring rust at first – losing the early rounds to Holt – he started coming alive in the fourth. He would score multiple knockdowns from that point on and finally finished Holt in the eighth frame when Tony Weeks waived the fight off.

Lucas Matthysse is going to be a tougher nut to crack than Holt. Matthysse thrilled us in fights against Humberto Soto, Olusegun Ajose and Mike Dallas Jr. Now Matthysse is finally getting another top-tier opponent in Peterson. After losing, what a lot of people consider disputed decisions to Zab Judah and Devon Alexander, this fight is going to say a lot about any improvements Matthysse has made since those pair of fights. He’s not going to walk through Peterson like he walked through Dallas Jr. (that January fight resembled a Bill Goldberg squash on WCW Nitro).

The winner of this bout will — hopefully — step into the ring with junior-welterweight kingpin Danny Garcia. We’re getting a lot of great boxing fights in 2013. This one is no exception, it genuinely has the potential to be one of the most memorable fights of the year.