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If Lamont Peterson has any regrets tomorrow, it will probably center on the first few rounds of tonight's fight with Danny Garcia. Garcia slipped past Peterson via majority decision on scores of 115-113, 115-113, and 114-114 in a fight where Peterson started slow offensively, then later picked up the pace and did some damage down the stretch. BLH had it 115-113 for Peterson.
Peterson used a lot of lateral movement in the early rounds, frustrating Garcia but perhaps not doing enough offensively for the judges to give him the rounds. Garcia, meanwhile, was missing a lot of shots, but landing a few blows here and there, and in those rounds, it might have been tough not to give it to the guy who was landing a couple of good shots over a guy who was doing some nice work defensively.
The early rounds may have gone Garcia's way, but they also seemed to expose some flaws in his game, namely a lack of top-shelf speed and an inability to cut off the ring.
Peterson (33-3-1, 17 KO) picked up the pace significantly in the eighth round, pressing forward aggressively and banging to the body, which has generally been his bread and butter in the past. The DC native began scoring effectively and consistently, while Garcia (30-0, 17 KO) started to tire.
But the judges just didn't see quite enough for Peterson to get the call, despite a very strong finish in the fight, including a big attack in the 12th and final round.
"I'm not sure if I gave him the first half. Just because I was moving a lot doesn't mean I was losing rounds. He was missing, I was landing my jab. I'm pretty sure he won the majority of the early rounds, but he didn't win them all," Peterson told Kenny Rice.
"I definitely thought down the stretch, Lamont won the fight. He landed the more telling blows. Even though he was moving a lot, a lot of Garcia's punches were blocked. But we don't have a reset button in life. All we can do is move forward, and we will be back," added Peterson's trainer, Barry Hunter.
Rice asked both fighters about a possible rematch.
"We could do it again. I think we could do it again at 147," Garcia said.
"I'm not sure. We have to sit down, take a break, and think about what's the best move. I would love a rematch, but we'll see," Peterson said.