Danny Garcia gets lucky again in robbery win over Lamont Peterson

Last night at the Barclays Center in front of a pro Garcia crowd in Brooklyn, New York, Danny “Swift” Garcia won a majority decision over Lamont Peterson on NBC’s Premier Boxing Champions. However, by the looks of their faces, one would not have guessed that Garcia was the victor of this one. To be honest, Garcia appeared the defeated fighter and Peterson looked almost unscathed and like he could go another six rounds if necessary.

In my opinion, this was the second controversial victory for Garcia in just over a year. Last year, on March 15, 2014, Garcia won another questionable majority decision against Mauricio Herrera in a fight that most viewing felt he had been dominated and subsequently should have earned the first loss of his career.

In this one, to his credit, Garcia displayed heart and a tremendous chin. That said, in the second half of the fight, when Peterson planted his feet and moved forward, Garcia struggled with Peterson’s pressure and boxing skills. Unfortunately, Peterson may blame his corner for bad advice at times and waiting too late in the fight to pressure Garcia and throw punches. For the first six rounds, Peterson did not throw many punches which is reflected was reflected in the scorecards, although his movement frustrated Garcia and made it very difficult for the undefeated fighter to land solid punches. This may have lent to fatigue for Garcia which led to Peterson’s success in the later stages of the fight.

It was definitely a close fight, and you can argue Garcia won; I did not feel it was the case however, but there are others who felt he did enough to win the fight and were turned off by Peterson’s lack of action early on. Although it easily could have went the other way and been the first loss of Garcia’s career (arguably his second), when Peterson goes back and watches the fight, I think he and his corner will agree they should have gotten off much earlier and thrown more punches.

Anyway, instead of 28-2, Danny Garcia stays undefeated and moves to 30-0. All he does is win, and get Lucky! Both fighters on NBC’s Premier Boxing Champions card will retain their respective super lightweight titles given they fought at a catch weight of 143 with both fighters looking to make moves up to 147 for opportunities against bigger names and more money.