[Video] Lamont Peterson Batters Holt in 8th Round Stoppage

WASHINGTON, DC — Lamont Peterson re-established himself as a player in the junior welterweight division with a methodical deconstruction of Kendall Holt last night. This fight had a lot of question marks going into it with both men having year-plus layoffs. In the end, Peterson’s pressure and merciless inside work were the decisive factors.

PETERSON WAKES UP: Peterson is a notoriously slow starter and that didn’t change in this contest. He boxed cautiously from the outside and allowed Holt to pepper him with power shots to the body and head. While Peterson caught most of these punches on the gloves, Holt was controlling these rounds and building a nice lead, not to mention confidence. Holt took Peterson’s wariness to exchange as a sign he couldn’t take his power and began to upload in the fourth round.

Big mistake.

Peterson would state later that he was simply getting a feel for Holt’s punch placement before opening up himself. Peterson gave Holt pause in that fourth round with a left hook downstairs and then badly wobbled him with a slashing overhand right. Holt’s attempt to grab resulted in him tasting a collection of hooks on his way to the canvas. Holt barely survived the round as Peterson crashed home two more hooks at the bell with Holt trapped on the ropes.

Holt never got back in the fight for the remaining three rounds. Peterson had periods where he wouldn’t punch much, but even then he’d corner Holt and force him to work either on offense by throwing punches (most of which were blocked) or forcing clinches. He never got a breather of any sort and when Peterson did punch, his shots were short, highly accurate power shots with Holt trapped on the ropes. A triple left hook lead to another knockdown in the sixth, and Holt’s night ended in the eighth with him helpless on the ropes under a barrage of Peterson blows.

PETERSON CAN’T GO WRONG WITH GOLDEN BOY: With this win, the floodgates open for Lamont Peterson in the junior welterweight division. As one of Golden Boy’s newest signees, the list of potential big opponents include Danny Garcia, Lucas Matthysse or an Amir Khan rematch. And if Adrien Broner is looking for a huge test for his 140 pound debut, he can look no further than Peterson. I’d pay money for each and every one of those fights.

SHOULD HOLT CONTINUE?: Kendall Holt is now 3-4 over his last seven fights. Being in a loaded division does him no favors either. Considering he was competitive with Danny Garcia in 2011, he can still give it a go if he doesn’t mind plying his trade on the Friday Night Fights level for the foreseeable future. He’s clearly on the downside of his career but he can still handle opponents on that level assuming this Peterson beating hasn’t taken too much out of him.