by David P. Greisman - BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — It was Lamont Peterson who was landing the harder shots with increasingly regularity down the stretch. But it was Danny Garcia who escaped with the majority decision victory.
No matter who appears to be winning in the last rounds when a fight goes the distance, boxing is of course still judged on a round-by-round basis. In this case, the judges saw a close contest, one in which Garcia gave chase early while Peterson seemed intent on doing little beyond making Garcia miss. Peterson changed up his approach later — instead of clowning Garcia with defense, he clobbered him with offense.
It wouldn’t be enough. One judge, Don Ackerman, had it a draw at 114-114, or six rounds apiece. The other two judges, Kevin Morgan and Steve Weisfeld overruled it, rendering the verdict for Garcia at 115-113, or seven rounds to five.
This was a bout between two of the top three 140-pound fighters, though it was taking place at a contractually agreed-upon limit of 143 pounds. Garcia is the lineal junior-welterweight champion, a status he earned after scoring a majority decision over Lucas Matthysse in September 2013. Peterson, meanwhile, had been stopped by Matthysse in three rounds in May 2013.
