Link: Jake Donovan (BoxingScene.com)

Lightweight prospect-becoming-contender Anthony Peterson is being very honest about his most recent performance, a lopsided but uninspiring decision win over knockaround veteran Fernando Trejo:

"It wasn't good enough. ... I still have a bad taste in my mouth from that fight. I don't like it when guys give a bad performance, then start calling out the world. You won't hear me calling anyone out any time soon. ... Right now, I'm calling out Anthony Peterson."

What a refreshing change of pace from the norm. Peterson knows that his performance wasn't up to snuff given the expectations put on him (fair or unfair), and he's not acting like he deserves a title shot or a big payday because of that fight.

The fight saw Peterson seem to lack any real killer instinct whatsoever, as he fwah!ed his way to a pretty routine domination of Trejo, who was outgunned from the word "go." Trejo clearly did not have the toolbox to do this job, while Peterson did. Still, Peterson seemed content with a simple cleaning instead of a full-scale remodeling, when knocking down some drywall was definitely in order.

He went on to say this:

"It was a good fight, but not a great fight. I like great fights."

Anyone agree that it was a "good" fight? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

It was a boring fight. It was a bad fight. It was an unappealing fight. It was anything but a good fight. The bout had no excitement, no drama, no ebb and flow, and no real destruction. A one-sided fight can be a good fight (Diaz-Pacquiao was very entertaining), but this wasn't a case in point.

But let's forget about it for now. He won, and that's enough to move forward. After all, Andre Dirrell erased the demons of a much more pathetic performance last year against Curtis Stevens by squashing Anthony Hanshaw in May. If Dirrell can recover some of his reputation as a fighter to want to see fighting, then Peterson certainly can.

Right now, it appears that Anthony is in line to face Jose Reyes on the August 2 undercard of the Joshua Clottey-Zab Judah fight on HBO. That fight has been rumored for a while, and Peterson says he'll be ready by then. Could be a risky move, but it could also be just what he needs.

The day that Top Rank's promotional deal with the Versus Network ends cannot come fast enough. Tonight's show featured Anthony Peterson and Vanes Martirosyan against tough veterans -- fine idea in theory, sort of, but yet another stinker when all was said and done.

I don't blame Versus for the series being terrible. Their commentators are solid and know their stuff, they present everything in the classic boxing on TV fashion, and they are gifted with the Top Rank association in that they have interesting young fighters available for broadcast.

Of course, we don't get good fights. This series has been so God awful bad that the network re-airs to this very day awful fights like Ulises Solis-Will Grigsby II and Hasim Rahman-Taurus Sykes. Neither fight wound up worth watching once, let alone several times in the next year.

From the repeated promotion of Tye Fields -- a nice guy, but a hack fighter who fights crap opponents -- to flat-out yawners like tonight's two-fight card, there is hopefully no way that Versus will renew with Top Rank, and will instead go with Golden Boy or someone else. Anyone else. Arum and Co. obviously have no real interest in broadening the scope of their series on Versus, so get them out of there and let someone else try. It can't get any worse, can it?

Anyway, tonight's fights went largely as expected, at least in terms of the winners. Anthony Peterson (27-0, 19 KO) pitched an essential shutout (120-108, 120-108, 119-109, and 118-110 on my generous card) over veteran Fernando Trejo, who had last been seen when Bobby Pacquiao knocked him out in the fourth round.

Peterson, 23, was highly tentative and seemed at times afraid to open up on Trejo, who is hardly a tricky fighter. Trejo stood right in front of Peterson, tried to come inside on him, and was met with good defense and fine fundamentals, but no sizzle from Peterson. Now, look, Anthony Peterson is 23 years old. I'm not trying to judge how he would do against top 10 opposition the way Wally Matthews did tonight. He's clearly not at that level yet. But even a half-step up against a puncher might test him the way he fought tonight. It was a solid advancement in his career, but nothing special.

The same could be said of Vanes Martirosyan (20-0, 13 KO), who beat former Winky Wright challenger Angel Hernandez (28-7, 16 KO). The 22-year old Martirosyan knocked Hernandez down in the opening round with an uppercut and stunned him a lot throughout the ten round sweep (100-89 on all three cards, and on mine). But Hernandez proved double tough, taking Martirosyan's best and staying up, even taunting him and asking for more on several occasions. But in the end, it was a one-sided beatdown that showed more than Hernandez was shot than it did anything (again) special about Martirosyan.

The fights went well for Arum's interests, and for the two winning prospects. But who watched? And what did they think after? These are valid questions.

It's a night of prospect tests against tough journeymen on Versus, starting at 9pm ET. We'll be here for the fights, partly to stay warm and in a boxing mood for Saturday's PPV.