Anthony Peterson Says His Brother Beat Danny Garcia’s Ass With “Effective Aggression”

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Danny Garcia vs Lamont PetersonWhen Danny Garcia(30-0, 17KO’s) was announced as the winner over Lamont Peterson(33-3-1, 17KO’s) in their non-title catchweight fight last Saturday night, flares of contention were immediately launched in to the sky.

The pro-Garcia Brooklyn crowd were pleased to see their man make it through another uncomfortable evening with a win, but many other observers were left flummoxed by the majority decision verdict. Nestor Gibbs of Thaboxingvoice.com interviewed Lamont Peterson’s younger brother Anthony -a light welterweight with a record of 34-1 with 22 KO’s- directly after the debatable verdict was announced and he was visibly irritated.

“Hell yeah, he[Lamont] won the fight man, hands down he won the fight. If you gon’ say he[Garcia] won off aggression, Lamont showed effective aggression when he was aggressive. There’s no way that this boy won this fight man, there’s no way. I lost my voice excuse me but, man, come on man, come on man, come on. The fuck they say? This boy can’t lose or something? Lamont literally beat this boy ass, man.”

Garcia got the nod by two points on two of the judges cards, and the third judge failed to separate them. The early rounds were marked by Peterson’s shifty feet as he circled, feinted, skipped, shuffled and slid all around the ring; an approach that made Garcia appear slow and plodding as he hopelessly tried to pin Peterson down. The dancer’s fists were not nearly as active though, and Nestor broached the subject with Anthony Peterson as whether his low punch output over the first six could have cost him this fight.

“It’s called ring generalship man. Everybody knows that. And then at times Lamont had Garcia doing shuffles and shit in the ring, you understand what I’m saying? That shit ain’t where it’s at man he lost that fight man, Danny Garcia lost the fight. Plain, point-blank, he lost the goddamn fight.”

Anthony Peterson has cited two of the four scoring criteria here, ‘effective aggression’ and ‘ring generalship’, for boxes ticked by his big brother. This is how you gauge the victor in a boxing match alongside the ‘clean punching’ and ‘defence’ categories.

Lamont certainly controlled the flow of the fight. It was up to him when they traded as Garcia could do nothing to initiate exchanges on his own terms, which in turn retarded his effectiveness going forward. That was all down to Lamont’s tactics. Furthermore, nobody can argue that Peterson had a higher comprehension of how to stay out of danger, as Garcia had trouble finding him at all with the constant movement. As for clean punching, Peterson really increased his output in rounds eight-through-twelve, leaving much visible damage on Garcia’s mug by bout’s end. When you combine all these factors, you can understand the younger Peterson’s exasperation at the result.

The only explanation that can be offered is that the judges at ringside favoured the aggressor, regardless of how effective his attempts may have been. The difference in punches landed was negligible even though Garcia swung a hell of a lot more; 173 landed out of 589 compared to 170 out of 494 for Lamont. Punch stats can often be misleading but in a fight where neither fighter was visibly shaken by the force of one particular blow, they must be examined to comprehend more fully the judges’ verdict. Instead of clearing matters up they muddy the waters further and when everything is laid on the table, how Garcia emerged victoriously is rather puzzling.