Photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
Saturday, April 11, 2015, Premier Boxing Champions to prime time on NBC.
In the first televised fight of the night, “Irish” Andy Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs) and Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (31-0-1, 22 KOs) fought to a split draw.
In the main event, Danny Garcia edged out Lamont Peterson by close and controversial majority decision.
Read on for three things we learned from the second installment of PBC on NBC.
Danny Garcia Isn’t A Complete Operator
Last night’s result is a bitterly contentious one among fans and pundits alike, but more importantly, Lamont Peterson exposed several weaknesses in Danny Garcia’s armoury that made him look very ordinary.
It was Peterson’s game plan to make Garcia hunt him down early on, and the WBC and WBA title holder looked pedestrian in trying to track down his foe.
Whether you were impressed by Peterson’s style or not, it was evident that Garcia couldn’t cut off the ring, and pin Peterson on the ropes. The scoring of early rounds were subject to interpretation, but if Garcia shares a ring with an even more defensively adept opponent in the future, we could see a first loss etched on his record.
Even in the closing rounds, when Peterson decided to come forward, he was out-hustling Garcia, stringing combinations together and winning the exchanges. It wasn’t a convincing performance by Garcia, and many will argue he was lucky to come out with a victory.
The Jury Is Still out on Peter Quillin
Photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
With three rounds gone and two knockdowns scored, Peter Quillin appeared as if he was about to make a huge statement with an early stoppage of WBO title holder Andy Lee.
But the former owner of the belt failed to close out the fight, and instead it was the warrior-like Lee, who in scoring a seventh round knockdown himself, managed to box his way down the stretch to earn a well deserved draw.
It raises questions about the killer instinct of Quillin, who looked tentative at times after feeling the power that Lee possessed. However, there is a consensus that Quillin could have finished the fight early on when the champion was at his most vulnerable.
Lee is recognized for his never-say-die attitude and ability to battle back from the gutter, but the manner in which Quillin was delivering the sickening blows means he should have laid it on the Irishmen more frequently.
It’s difficult to gain a complete assessment of Quillin after that bout, and the way the fight panned out means the critics will still be out in force on the 31-year-old Brooklyn fighter.
PBC Is Good for Boxing
Sure, no titles were on the line in either fight, and although this is something that may irritate the boxing purist, exposing and raising the profile of the sport to a mainstream audience is just as important.
Getting the best against the best in the ring is often an arduous task, with promoters, purses and the general politics of boxing the most obtrusive factors.
But thus far PBC should be commended for being able to pit an array of talented fighters against each other, and with the likes of Andre Dirrell vs. James Degale–an IBF, world super middleweight title fight to come next month–it highlights the positive steps being taken by Al Haymon to improve viewership.
