ANTHONY PETERSON vs BRANDON RIOS

When undefeated fighters meet it is usually difficult to pick a winner, and such is the case when Anthony Peterson faces Brandon Rios in a lightweight championship eliminator that opens HBO’s Boxing After Dark show on Saturday night.
 
Peterson, who has won 28 consecutive bouts, has the classier style and looks the more impressive physically with his ripped physique.
 
Rios, with 24 wins and a draw in 25 bouts — and he destroyed the boxer who drew with him when they met in a rematch — is much more of the pressure-fighter type, a boxer who goes straight to his opponents and lets the punches flow.
 
Peterson’s story is well chronicled, a touching tale of how he and his brother Lamont were homeless youngsters who found salvation in the boxing gym in Washington DC.
 
Rios was once a wild and reckless character but found maturity and inspiration as well as a newfound dedication to his boxing career after settling into a stable romantic relationship that has led to marriage.
 
Each was a top-level amateur, Peterson winning a national Golden Gloves title as a lightweight but losing to Vicente Escobedo in the U.S. Olympic trials while Rios was a national Golden Gloves champion at featherweight.
 
You can look at this fight in two ways. One is to see Peterson taking command with hand speed and superior artistry. The other is to envisage Rios getting up close, banging away and grinding his way to victory with a fists-pumping, high-energy style.
 
My concern about Rios is that in too many fights he seemed to be a bit too easy to hit, sometimes walking into punches as if he couldn’t be bothered to move his head or keep his hands up. He has been looking much sharper lately, though, and I know that his trainer, ex-champ Robert Garcia, is delighted with Rios’s preparation in the gym at Oxnard, CA, and also with the fighter’s technical progress over the past year. The feeling in the Rios camp is that he is as ready as he will ever be.
 
Peterson has always been considered the puncher in the family, a harder hitter than his junior welterweight brother, Lamont. Is he really such a good banger, though? Three of Peterson’s last four wins were on points, admittedly against tough Mexican veterans. Rios, though, has stopped his last six opponents. This includes a blood-spattered seven-rounds win over Manuel Perez, the boxer from Denver who had fought him to a draw a year earlier. The rematch showed Rios’s improvement. In the first fight with Perez, Rios needed a strong finish in the last round to pull out the draw. It was a different story when the two met again, with Rios breaking Perez’s nose with uppercuts and outclassing and overwhelming his opponent.
 
Rios looked tremendous in his last fight when blasting right through the tall and lanky New York boxer Jorge Teron in three rounds in what had been considered a stiff test. Teron had last only once in 25 bouts, avenging his sole defeat, but Rios ran right over him. I was very impressed with Rios’s sharpness and accuracy in that fight. His punches were thrown with speed and precision.
 
Peterson has hardly lost a round and it could be that we have yet to see the best of him. However, because Peterson is essentially untested it is only natural that critics tend to harbour doubts. How will Peterson’s technique and temperament hold up if Rios drags him into a fierce, physical fight?
 
Rios knows what it is like to be involved in give-and-take wars, such as his split decision win over Ricardo Dominguez, who subsequently boxed for a world title, whereas Peterson has often seemed to be on cruise control.
 
I well remember the veteran writer and analyst Wally Matthews remarking disapprovingly during a commentary on the Versus network that Peterson was throwing punches at his opponent in the languid manner of a man throwing darts into a dartboard. “The only weapon that he lacks is the one you can’t teach, and you’ve got to hope that he can develop that himself, and that is the fire to go in there and knock guys out,” Matthews noted.
 
Of course, Saturday’s fight could be the one in which Peterson unveils his full potential. He could be simply too talented for Rios. If Peterson starts to dominate immediately and land punches at will it could be a long, punishing night for Rios. If Rios can hurt Peterson early, though, keep on top of him and keep up a high punch rate, he can wear down the more polished boxer. As of late Friday night I was undecided on the outcome, with a slight lean towards Peterson. I have gone back and forth on this one, though, and the fact that the odds (with Peterson a slight favourite) have hardly moved indicates to me that the sporting fraternity cannot get a solid feel for this fight, either.