Jean (25-1, 17 KO) looked out of his depth by the midway point of the fight, as Peterson took over, imposing his will. He learned pretty quickly on the night that Jean was no particularly big threat to him unless he got careless, and Peterson stayed within the game plan and did his job, putting himself right back in the mix for big fights at 140 pounds, including a potential title unification bout with WBC and WBA titlist Danny Garcia, a fight that Peterson has said he wants.
Jean, 31, showed up to fight and to win, but he just wasn't quite on Peterson's level, and it showed. He wasn't an undeserving challenger or an easy out for Lamont, he was simply not the better man.
The sixth round did have the best action of the fight, after which Peterson largely took over, as he had been threatening to do since the third or fourth round. Jean was game, but he wasn't good enough tonight, and it's that simple.
Make sure you check out our other recaps of Saturday night's HBO and Showtime fights, including Mikey Garcia's routine domination of Juan Carlos Burgos, Lamont Peterson's impressive bounceback win over Dierry Jean, and Jermell Charlo routing Gabriel Rosado.