Heavy-handed Lucas Matthysse can stop Lamont Peterson in Atlantic City

Super middleweight don Sergio Martinez is not the only Argentinian who’s been making waves at world level title level and it’s now the turn of Lucas Matthysse to prove himself at the vanguard of the light welterweight scene when he takes on IBF world champion Lamont Peterson at Boardwalk Hall Atlantic City at 141lb catch-weight. Peterson has the heart of a lion, but ultimately the heavy handed South American looks a likely KO winner.

So controversial were the defeats to Zab Judah and Devon Alexander that mar Matthysse’s record that many boxing heads regard the “The Machine” as possessing a de facto 35-0-0 record rather than the 33-2-0 record the history books show.

His opponent too has a strong record to-date with Tim Bradley – undefeated conqueror of Manny Pacquiao – the only man to best Lamont Peterson inside the squared circle.

Peterson made an authoritative comeback after the furore surrounding his positive test for synthetic testosterone, when stopping Kendall Holt in eight rounds in Washington in February.

The DC-native has shown an indomitable streak throughout his career at the top level having got up off of the canvas in three of his last six fights – fighting back to avoid defeat on two occasions.

However, of the fighters to knock him down – Amir Khan, Victor Ortiz and Tim Bradley – only Ortiz had a KO record that suggested he was a particularly heavy hitter and none of the aforementioned men have a record of KO wins to compare to Matthysse, who has stopped 31 of his 33 victims.

Indeed the fact that Peterson has had such cause to prove his indomitability reflects as badly on his defensive skills as it does positively upon his courage in the face of punishment.

Even in his two losses Matthysse has toppled his opponents at least once and on the latter occasion he became the first fighter to deposit Devon Alexander on the mat in the latter’s then-22-fight career and his power, combined with the occasionally error-strewn defence of Peterson could see the latter stopped for the first time in his career.