During the past couple of weeks there has been a lot of speculation about who IBF junior welterweight champion Lamont Peterson will be fighting next. Zab Judah is the mandatory challenger for Lamont’s IBF title, and if the two parties cannot agree to terms soon the fight will go to a purse bid on October 2.
A purse bid is essentially an auction where promoters bid for the right to promote the fight. If the fight does go to a purse bid, Top Rank and Golden Boy would seem to be the most likely entrants.
The two promotional companies have already locked up dates TV dates on HBO and Showtime for virtually every Saturday night for the months of November and December.
A Peterson vs. Judah matchup would be a great addition to any of the upcoming cards on the premium cable networks, but the fight makes the most sense on the East Coast where both fighters would draw a much better crowd than they would out west.
Peterson vs. Judah could be a huge draw in Peterson’s native Washington, D.C., where the fighter had a strong turnout for his last fight.
A great deal of the attendance could be attributed to his opponent Amir Khan; the Washington, D.C., metro area boasts a large Pakistani population, which no doubt helped the live gate. Peterson did draw a large crowd, however, Khan’s help not withstanding.
Judah, a native New Yorker who many boxing observers believe is on the downside, is still a draw in the New York City metro area. Besides his loss to Amir Khan in Las Vegas last year, most of Judah’s recent fights have been staged in New Jersey and New York.
Had the two sides been able to come to an agreement back in August when the IBF ruled that Peterson would maintain his title despite testing positive for synthetic testosterone, the fight may have had a chance to land on the October 20 card to be held in Brooklyn at the soon-to-be-opened Barclays Center.
Golden Boy Promotions may still be harboring some bitterness toward Peterson after having to cancel his rematch with Khan in May. But a unification bout between The Ring Magazine, WBC and WBA champion Danny Garcia and Peterson could be a big matchup for the first half of 2013 should both fighters retain their respective titles in their upcoming bouts.
With Adrien Broner’s November 17 HBO date said to land in Atlantic City, N.J., a Peterson vs. Judah matchup would also make sense. The upcoming Miguel Cotto vs. Austin Trout card scheduled for December 1 at MSG would be another Golden Boy-promoted card to which a Peterson vs. Judah matchup would be a great addition.
Top Rank promotes Tim Bradley, who is rumored (per Mike Coppinger of The Ring Magazine) to be making his New York debut on December 15, and is need of an opponent. A rematch with Peterson has been mentioned as a possibility.
The Peterson camp has made it clear, though, that defending the title of the organization that stuck by him throughout his recent trials and tribulations is their priority.
If Bradley is able to secure another opponent for his New York debut, a Peterson vs. Judah matchup would provide strong support for the live gate and could lead to a showdown between the winners of the two bouts.
No matter where this fight lands, Peterson vs. Judah is a compelling matchup and would be a highly competitive fight that deserves to be broadcast by either HBO or Showtime.
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