by James Slater, photo by Tom Casino / Showtime – On last night’s Torres-Holt II card at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, unbeaten 24-year-old light-welterweight prospect Lamont Peterson of Washington D.C improved to 25-0(12) by stopping the very game Rogelio Castaneda of Mexico. The end came in the 9th round of a one-sided fight, as the 31-year-old’s corner, seeing their man under heavy fire after having got up from a knockdown, signalled to referee Russell Mora to call a halt. The official time was 2 minutes and 50 seconds of round number nine. The Mexican, who never stopped trying all night, fell to 24-14-3(8). It is clear Lamont Peterson is in need of bigger and better opponents right now.
Having pretty much everything his own way throughout the scheduled ten-rounder, the talented 24-year-old brother of Anthony Peterson was basically given nothing more than a good workout. Choosing to either box on the outside and use his vastly superior speed of both hand and foot, or fight on the inside where he was able to rip into Castaneda with uppercuts and wicked shots to the body, Peterson was always in command.. It was somewhat strange, however, that Lamont opted to fight on the inside so frequently. Giving the much slower Mexican his only chance by taking this approach, Peterson was caught by a few hard shots as he locked horns with the veteran.
Also a little strange was why Peterson did not attempt to close the show much sooner than he did. Castaneda, who was marked up around the right eye, appeared badly hurt in rounds five and eight in particular – only for Peterson to back off a little instead of really going for the finish he surely could have got. Still, this small complaint takes nothing away from the overall good showing by the undeniably gifted light-welter.
A fast right hand to the side of the head decked Castaneda in the 9th, and when the Mexican rose he was instantly caught by a big left hand upstairs. Soon under more accurate fire and clearly having no chance of puling off a win, (Castaneda had not won a single round, despite his gameness) the Mexica’s corner indicated to the third man in the ring that they had seen enough.
Peterson, who threw a lot of punches in the fight, did not even appear to be breathing hard at the end. Possessing good stamina, what looks like a fine chin (Castaneda did manage to land a solid overhand right to the head in the 3rd, with Peterson taking the shot well), an excellent variety of punches and superb speed, the 24-year-old is without doubt a possible future world champion.