Matthysse and Peterson saving money on sanctioning fees on Saturday with no titles on the line

By Jeff Sorby - 05/16/2013 - Comments

matthysse324Neither IBF light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (31-1-1, 16 KO’s) or WBC interim light welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse (33-2, 31 KO’s) will have their titles on the line for their fight this Saturday, May 18th on Showtime at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.

Matthysse, 30, didn’t want to have his interim WBC title on the line for fear that he would lose out on his chance to get a fight against WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia in the fall if he gets beaten by Peterson on Saturday.

The International Boxing Federation didn’t see this as an actual unification bout given that Matthysse only has the interim WBC 140 pound title and not the full one.

Matthysse is probably kidding himself if he thinks it matters whether his interim title were up for grabs or not. If he loses the fight to Peterson, Golden Boy Promotions will likely steer Danny Garcia in another direction anyway, so he still won’t get a title shot against him. And if Matthysse beats Peterson, there’s no guarantee that he’ll get the fight with Garcia later this year. It comes down to what Garcia wants, and it doesn’t look like he’s all that eager to face Matthysse.

The positive about this Saturday’s fight between Matthysse and Peterson, at least for their sake, is they both will save a lot of money in sanctioning fees by not having their titles on the line. That’s more money for them, and the fight will make them both good money from Showtime and the gate at the Boardwalk Hall.

The fight would have made more money if they staged it in Washington, D.C, because that’s where Peterson lives and he draws huge crowds there, but the promoters opted for a neutral venue for the fight. You have to wonder whether the confusion that occurred with Peterson’s win over Amir Khan in Washington, DC has anything to do with this fight not being staged there.