Last Saturday at the Barclays Center, in a night of mismatches, Lamont Peterson successfully defended his IBF Light-Welterweight title with a 10th round technical knockout victory over Puerto Rico’s Edgar Santana.
Peterson, despite being a native of Washington D.C., received quite the applause from fans as he walked to the ring. Once the fight got going, it was easy to tell who the majority of fans who were rooting for. “DC showed up,” added Peterson. They showed up and I was happy that they came out and supported me.”
The controversy surrounding Edgar Santana on Saturday night was the presence of Angel Hernandez in Santana’s corner. As an athletics coach and chemist, he was known as Angel Heredia. During this time period, he created a number of doping substances and methods, with a combination of testosterone, growth hormone, and EPO being his most successful. Peterson never mentioned Hernandez by name. “It is always a good thing when there is strict drug testing going to make sure all fighters are safe,” said Peterson. “I am always going to be for that regardless of my past.” Peterson tested positive for synthetic testosterone following his victory over Amir Khan in 2011.
Peterson wants Danny Garcia as an opponent for his next bout, however, Lamont also opined, “It is a business.” What does Peterson mean exactly? Isn’t this the fight that is most likely going to take place? “It is likely that it can happen. It should happen,” commented Peterson. “But, it has to make sense. I have to be happy on my side. He has to be happy on his side.”
Once again, the topic of drug testing came up. How many times was Peterson drug tested and by what agency? “USADA,” said Peterson. “I think they tested me four or five times randomly within about three weeks.” Some may consider that a little excessive.
Nestor Gibbs of Thaboxingvoice.com received prior knowledge that when an opponent is tested, the adversary is notified. Was Peterson aware of Santana being tested five times as well? Lamont did not get a chance to answer the question as trainer Barry Hunter answered instead. “We do not want to keep giving stuff out on drug testing,” said Hunter. “That takes away from what he just did tonight.” Gibbs was not done just yet as he replied, “Actually Barry, it is a good thing that there was testing because he just got a knockout clean.” Hunter responded, “It was great. It was great. All his fights have been clean.”
