by David P. Greisman

Lamont Peterson was considered one of the top junior welterweights going into his fight this past May with Lucas Matthysse, but while he lost to Matthysse in a decisive third-round technical knockout, there was a silver lining.

Peterson still has his International Boxing Federation world title.

That’s because Peterson-Matthysse was held at an agreed-upon limit of 141 pounds, meaning that no world title was on the line.

And so the 29-year-old from Washington, D.C., will be returning to the ring on Jan. 25 — one day after his 30th birthday — to defend the IBF belt against his mandatory challenger, Dierry Jean.

The card will take place at the D.C. Armory and will be the main event of a Showtime broadcast. Peterson is 31-2-1 with 16 knockouts, while Jean, a 31-year-old fighting out of Montreal, is 25-0 with 17 KOs. Jean also last fought in May, stopping Cleotis Pendarvis in four rounds to earn this bout.

Peterson spoke with BoxingScene.com on Dec. 4.

BoxingScene.com: It’s been a little more than six months since your last fight, and it’ll end up being eight months between the Matthysse fight and your bout with Dierry Jean. What’ve you been up to over the past half a year or so?

Peterson: “Training. Doing what I always do. Doing what I love. Just still working on the craft. At the end of the day, I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing that until the day I retire. I’m in the gym, not doing nothing really hard. Still sparring a lot, getting the body ready. I didn’t know when I was going to fight, but I just wanted to be ready just in case anything came up.”

BoxingScene.com: How long did it take for you after the Matthysse fight to get back into the gym?

Peterson: “I think I took a week off. It was really about four or five days. You know,I love boxing. It goes beyond just me fighting, me being the world champion. I love boxing. I love being in the gym. My gym is like a family. And I’m not going to even say it’s my second home. It’s just my home.”

BoxingScene.com: That’s interesting that after the Matthysse fight that you didn’t want to take any time off to relax. Did you feel like you needed to recuperate after the loss?

Peterson: “No, it wasn’t like we did a lot of rounds where I was taking punishment to the body. The next day, I felt totally fine. I was bruised a little bit and was a little sore. Other than that, I was pretty much OK. I didn’t feel any effects from the fight, not worse than any other fight. There’s been other fights where I did rounds and I felt worse than I did after the Matthysse fight.”

BoxingScene.com: What do you know about Dierry Jean?

Peterson: “I watched a fight one time that was just right before I fought Matthysse and he [Jean] fought on Showtime [against Cleotis Pendarvis in May]. I watched a few rounds of it; I didn’t watch the whole fight. From what I saw, he’s an undefeated guy, so of course he has a certain swagger about him. He’s the No. 1 contender, so he definitely deserves the shot at the title.

“But overall, as far as his fighting style, he’s pretty much to me kind of really a basic fighter, but does everything good. Nothing really stood out about him. He had a nice work rate, and he knew how to handle himself in the ring. So we’re going to come up with a game plan and prepare just like we do for any other fight, and just plan on getting the victory.”

BoxingScene.com: After your win over Kendall Holt, I recall Holt talking about how tough it is for him to get down to 140, and you saying that it can also difficult for you. Why did you decide to stay at junior welterweight after the Matthysse fight?

Peterson: “Well of course, I lost that fight. And in this game, a lot of times you got to go where the best opportunities are. I think at this point, me having that belt and us [Peterson and Matthysse] not fighting for the belt, that’s really my leverage at this point. So I just felt like the best opportunity was going to come with me defending that belt instead of moving up and starting from scratch at welterweight.”

BoxingScene.com: How glad are you now that you and Matthysse fought in that non-title bout and you still have your world title belt? I know it still doesn’t help the fact that you lost, but it does help that you have this belt and the opportunities, as you said.

Peterson: “Yeah, it’s really the opportunities. Really, me fighting Matthysse, we didn’t fight at the weight class. The belt wasn’t on the line. But of course coming off the loss, I’m still a champion because we didn’t put it on the line, but coming off a loss you don’t feel like that. You don’t feel like a champion. I’m just happy that it did happen that way, and I can still get the opportunity that I do have at this point, and that’s defending the IBF title.”

BoxingScene.com: What do you need to do to return toward the top at 140 in terms of people’s perspective?

Peterson: “Go out and win this next fight. I think winning is the most important thing, but the way I feel is I want to win in spectacular fashion, whether it be a knockout or a shutout on the scorecards. They always say you’re as good as your last fight. And of course my last fight went the way it went. The next thing, you know, is you get back on track and winning again, and people don’t really worry about it. At the end of the day, I can only go out and prove how good I am, and that’s that. I’m just going to work hard on rebuilding my name and being in the conversation of being the best 140-pounder out there.”

BoxingScene.com: Did you want to return to the ring sooner than this?

Peterson: “Yes. Like I said, I was in the gym constantly. There was talk about me fighting on that Floyd Mayweather card back in September. I was pretty much in shape enough to fight, but when I was told about it, there was pretty much no way I was going to make the weight, and that’s what kept me from taking the fight. I was definitely ready, mentally and physically. I was definitely in shape. But it was going to be a problem with the weight. I kind of left the fight alone. While I was in the gym, I had a little problem with my wrist. So, it was kind of little things telling me no, so I listened to it.”

BoxingScene.com: Which of your wrists was giving you problems?

Peterson: “It was my right wrist.”

BoxingScene.com: And how is it now?

Peterson: “It’s pretty good. Everything’s good with me right now. I’m pretty healthy.”

BoxingScene.com: Giving the timing of this upcoming bout, were you able to enjoy Thanksgiving the way you wanted to?

Peterson: “It’s been a long time since I have. So at this point, it really don’t mean a thing to me. I’ve missed out on it for the last four or five years, because I’m always fighting in December or February, or I don’t know if I’m going to fight or not. So I’m getting used to leaving that whole holiday alone. Me being a professional, being in a profession where I have to watch my weight, I’m just not even worrying about eating that way, even if it’s for Christmas or if it’s for Thanksgiving, I just try to stay professional about making weight all year round.”

BoxingScene.com: What are you walking around at right now?

Peterson: “I come in the gym about 156 pounds and I leave about 151, 152.”

BoxingScene.com: Say you win this fight against Dierry Jean, do you know who you want right after that?

Peterson: “Whatever’s the best opportunity for me at the time. With me, I always go with what the people want or demand, so whoever it seems like is the best way to go, then that’s where I’ll go. I can’t tell you who, but I’ll tell you that I won’t deny no one. If anything came up and it made sense, then that’s what I’ll do.”

BoxingScene.com: How much do you want a rematch with Matthysse?

Peterson: “I do want a rematch with Matthysse. If it’s the best thing that’s next, then I’ll definitely do it. I think eventually that it will happen, so I’m not really like, ‘I have to fight him. I have to fight him.’ I think that it will happen. Whenever that fight makes sense, I’ll be ready to fight him.”

BoxingScene.com: What do you think about what Danny Garcia was able to do in his fight with Matthysse?

Peterson: “I won’t say it surprised me. I did actually pick Matthysse to win, but it didn’t surprise me that Danny won. Honestly, I’m a betting man. I honestly was trying to put some money on Danny at the last minute. I never actually got a chance to do it, but that’s what my thoughts were, and that’s where my heart was.”

BoxingScene.com: Why do you say that Garcia winning that way didn’t surprise you?

Peterson: “You never can call a fight. Sometimes you get lucky and it goes the way that you think it’s going to go. A fight can go many different ways. I’m just looking at all the possible ways, and one of the things that I thought of was Matthysse puts pressure on a lot of fighters, but I know with Danny, what I’ve heard, he’s heavy-handed with anyone who’s ever going to get in the ring with him.

“And I wondered, is Matthysse going to sell out and put that much pressure on Danny the way he does everyone else. I don’t know exactly what happened in the fight, but to me Matthysse didn’t put as much pressure as he did on others. So he kind of had some respect for him and allowed Danny enough time to box and stick to a game plan.”

BoxingScene.com: You said you’ve got more opportunities at 140 right now as compared to starting from scratch at welterweight. When would you see yourself moving up to 147?

Peterson: “Probably soon. I just didn’t want to go into the weight class off a loss. I look at it as, like I said before, starting from scratch. If I can defend this title in good fashion, my name’s ringing again, and I can go up and maybe take a few steps higher at the weight class than I would coming off the loss.”

BoxingScene.com: This is another fight at home for you, three fights out of your past four. How do you feel about that?

Peterson: “I feel really good about it. I never thought that it would happen like this. But sometimes, things just work that way. A whole lot of times, we were fighting in the beginning down in Missisissippi and the Memphis area. When we signed with Top Rank, we took it to Vegas. I was just glad to get at least one fight at home, then all of a sudden I did get the one with Khan, and then after that it was fight after fight, really. I’m happy to be able to fight in my hometown. It shows that D.C. is really a fight town. They come out in support. It seems like it’s a good fit to have me here.”

Pick up a copy of David’s new book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com