May 18th on the boxing calendar is fast approaching. That date is circled for many boxing fans because of an almost guaranteed action packed main event which pits two of the best Jr. Welterweights in the world squaring off, when Lamont Peterson collides with Lucas Matthysse. Lamont Peterson holds the IBF title at 140 and Matthysse holds the interim WBC at 140. This was seen as Lucas Matthysse’s shot to finally fight for a world title. However, there is no belt on the line because there is a catch weight of 141. For one reason or another, the bout has taken place above the Jr. Welterweight limit.
Barry Hunter spoke with ThaBoxingVoice.com regarding the catch weight.
“Schaefer explained it earlier about the IBF not recognizing the interim title (Matthysse’s WBC title). So why bring yours to the table, when there’s nothing else being brought to the table. I don’t think the whole thing should have been based on belts anyway. Get the belts out of the way, get the politics out of the way, and get the fighters in there to bring boxing where it needs to be,” Hunter explained.
The man that holds the WBC title is Danny Garcia. Garcia was victorious this weekend over Zab Judah and successfully defended that title along with the WBA title and The Ring Magazine title. The winner of Matthysse-Peterson could potentially be the next opponent for Danny Garcia. Hunter in fact, likes that fight for Peterson.
“We would love to fight Danny (Garcia) to unify the titles. We got to handle Matthysse and if the boxing lords that control this thing would love to see, we’d love to see it too.”
The last time Peterson was in the ring, he defeated Kendall Holt via stoppage but in the early going, it seemed like Peterson had some ring rust. Hunter explains why Peterson looked that way.
“They were saying he looked off. It wasn’t that he looked off. You go to respect the punching power of Kendall Holt; there is strategy behind what we do. Our strategy was to get him into a relaxed mood where he would get kind of cocky and come forward and he did that and we got him. Down the stretch he looked beautiful.”
Peterson has proven on both occasion that he’s a ticket seller in the DC area and Hunter hopes after this fight, they can return back to the nation’s capital and hopes he can get two special guests to attend the event.
“I’m looking forward to the next fight in DC, hopefully at the MCI center. The crowd is itching to get a fight down there. The first lady (Michelle Obama) is into physical fitness. That’s a plug in, I want her to come out and the President to come out the next time we have a fight in the city. They (Matthysse) didn’t want to come to DC and that’s fine. I think he’s a great little fighter. I think Lamont is a great fighter and if you put the two together you’re going to have a great fight. Atlantic City is like a hop, skip, and a jump away and it’s like DC, so we’re looking forward to it.”
