On Saturday Night Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions series was on NBC and it featured two big time fights. Middleweights Peter Quillin and Andy Lee (not the San Francisco 49ers punter) faced off in a non-title bout because Quillin just missed weight by .6 (160 was the required weight). Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson fought at a catchweight of 143 lbs.
Quillin/Lee
Despite disappointment from not making weight and fighting for a tight in front of his home crowd in New York Quillin started fast as he put Lee to the canvas twice in the first four rounds. It seemed that Quillin was going to end Lee’s night early but during the middle rounds Lee started putting together some nice offense himself as he knocked Quillin down for the first time in his career in the 7th round. Lee showed a lot of heart finishing the fight and seemingly getting strong as the fight went on. Quillin proved he could take a punch as he got off the canvas to mount his own offense in the later rounds. This fight was a draw, but Quillin controlled the majority of the fight. Personally I think after Quillin missed weight they weren’t going to let him win unless it was via KO because the powers that be were probably pissed they weren’t able to have a showcased title fight on national TV. All in all Quillin and Lee proved to be marketable players in the Middleweight division.
Garcia/Peterson
This fight didn’t have as much fireworks as the first fight, but this was a great chess match between two good fighters. Coming into the fight a lot of people thought that Garcia would dominate the fight because Peterson’s normal straight forward style was great for Garcia’s dominate left hook, but Peterson pulled a changeup that caught everyone by surprise. For the half of the fight, Garcia was chasing Peterson around the ring mounting very little offense. Peterson was able to move (run) a lot, but still establish a nice jab in the process. In the first half of the fight I thought it was pretty much even some rounds Peterson was able to counter and jab and some rounds Garcia put in more work. During the later rounds Peterson switched it up as he became the aggressor and started walking Garcia down. When Peterson switched it up he was being even more effective seemly had taken full control of this prize fight. Garcia did a good job in trying to work the body throughout the fight, but it didn’t slow Peterson down like I expected. This was a tough fight to call, but Garcia won on the cards. I can see how you can view it both ways, I personally thought Peterson had a great plan and executed it to perfection and had Garcia confused all night. After the fight there is video of Garcia telling Peterson he lost.
Both fights were very entertaining and this is what the sport of boxing needs to get back mainstream popularity it once had when our fathers were younger. Once again Al Haymon is a (musical) boxing genius *Eddie Murphy voice*.
