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| Tuesday night in Lula, Mississippi, ESPN2 presented a main event featuring light welterweight contender Lamont Peterson, one half of the fighting Peterson brothers. Peterson came into the fight buoyed by an undefeated 11-0 (6 KOs) record while his opponent, Miguel Torrecillas entered the bout having won |  |
sixteen bouts, lost four, drawn one and stopped seven before the distance. While still in his first year as a professional fighter, Peterson looked at ease with his first television spot as he went about the task of trying to remain undefeated to secure many more such opportunities in the future.
This is how is all went down punch for punch, round by round.
Round one: Peterson comes out jabbing while Torrecillas goes for the hook. Torrecillas is letting his hands go early here but Peterson is keeping compact and looking to see out this early storm. Peterson goes back to his sharp jab and is able to land a good counter right hand. Torrecillas starts winging away to the body but Peterson is nice and controlled, patient and defensive.
Score: 10-9 Peterson.
Round two: Torrecillas is leading with rights to the body and slams in a good counter right to the head before returning back to his body work. Peterson lands a right but Torrecillas is bulling Peterson around with some very physical advances; it looks as if Torrecillas is trying to ruffle Peterson out of his composure. Peterson picks a nice right uppercut through Torrecillas’ defense. Torrecillas answers with a left before having to eat another right uppercut. Peterson is having to take some shots also but is much more consistent.
Score: Peterson 10-9.
Round three: Peterson goes to the body with the jab before landing a sharp counter right hand before moving off in a classy little spot of action. Torrecillas cracks in a left hook. Peterson’s right hand jars Torrecillas’ head before he goes back into jab mode. Peterson lands another right. Peterson is tall, has good hand-speed and footwork to stay out of trouble but is throwing little here and does not commit to many power punches.
Score: Peterson 10-9.
Round four: Peterson lands aleft hook followed by a jab and is making all the difference here with his accuracy; he looks good when he opens up with shots. Torrecillas is coming in with his head down, banging with both hands and will have to take some big uppercuts if he does not watch himself. Sure enough, Peterson starts looking for the right uppercut through the middle of whatever guard Torrecillas is putting up. Peterson slams home a right-left combination followed by a right. Torrecillas answers with a right of his own but it is all Peterson in this round with speed and accuracy.
Score: Peterson 10-9.
Round five: Torrecillas has his best moments when he successfully times Peterson’s jab and is able to get in with a counter right hand. Peterson tries to jab and gets in with some good lefts but Torrecillas’ right hands are doing the job for him at the moment. Peterson sneaks a hard right hand inside. Peterson is in no hurry to put Torrecillas away, it looks like he does not want to get caught with anything big and will patiently pick away at the much more basic Torrecillas.
Score: Peterson 10-9.
Round six: Torrecillas is chasing Peterson down and manages to land a left-right combination. Torrecillas lands a cracking right hand to finally force Peterson out of his stride and both begin throwing nice hooks inside. Neither man seems too bothered by the other’s power but it is a solid performance by Peterson that is stealing the show thus far.
Score: Peterson 10-9.
Round seven: Both fighters land jolting left hooks to start this round. A Torrecillas right is answered by a Peterson jab-jab-right hand. Peterson hits a counter right then a left right followed by yet another right. Torrecillas slams in a right that forces Peterson back on to the ropes where Torrecillas tries to take advantage and land a flurry of shots. Peterson absorbs Torrecillas’ head and body punches before turning it on and landing a flurry of impressive looking shots on Torrecillas. Peterson has the mature style but could use a little extra dynamic about his work because a fighter like Torrecillas at this point is not really offering anything to trouble him.
Score: Peterson 10-9.
Round eight: Peterson is well loosened up now, a little late but impressive enough as he comes in, hand low, looking for quick counters when Torrecillas lunges in. Torrecillas goes on a tear with his left hand, followed by a right. Peterson bangs in a right uppercut followed by a left-right combination, then a right but Torrecillas takes it and comes back with two good right hands of his own. They continue to chip away at one another but there is no definitive action.
Score: Peterson 10-9.
Round nine: Torrecillas sends Peterson reeling with a big left hand but his follow-up is messy; Peterson goes down but it is not called and Peterson does not have to suffer a count. Torrecillas has more success with the right hand before having to take a left hook. Torrecillas goes inside with the right and Petersom fires back with a right-left, then another, but Torrecillas closes the round will with a right.
Score: Even 10-10.
Round ten: Peterson’s counter right lands before Torrecillas hits home with a left right followed by a huge right hand. Peterson hits a left-right and goes back to the jab. Torrecillas once again does enough to redeem something of the round with another good right.
Score: Even 10-10.
Official Scores: 98-92, 100-90 and 100-90 all in favor of the winner, Lamont Peterson.
Writer’s note: ESPN aired a nice clip on this show about the Peterson brothers and their struggle to make it out of the ghetto. It showed how they were abandoned by their parents at a very young age and how their grandfather would not let them stay with them. They would walk all day and all night regardless of the weather and stay in a Greyhound bus station until they were kicked out of there too. They experienced drug dealers and yet, they were taken in and taught how to fight and to live by their current trainer. All too often, boxing is characterized as a brutal sport but many people do not see that without it, so many more young people would die or come to a bad end through crime. Boxing is responsible for giving a second chance to a lot of disadvantaged young men, and detractors of boxing should remember that.
Jim Cawkwell can be reached at jimcawkwell@yahoo.co.uk
