Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Lamont Peterson PPV bout on July 14th pretty close

By Michael Collins: According to Steve Kim, a pay per view fight between IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO’s) and Juan Manuel Marquez (53-6-1, 39 KO’s) is looking like a definite possibility for July 14th at the Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington, Texas. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is looking to set it up, and appears that he’s close to having it done. Peterson and Marquez will first fight on another card together in Mexico City on March 17th before they meet up on July 14th.

Kim says this on his twitter: “Arum says Marquez-Peterson is ‘pretty close.’ Would take place July 14 in Cowboys Stadium. Lamont Peterson and JMM would co-headline a show in Mexico City on March 17th as a prelude on TV Azteca says Arum. JMM-Peterson would be a pay-per-view card.”

This sounds like a better deal for Peterson than what he would get for the Amir Khan rematch. He was offered $1.5 million for the Khan rematch plus one half of the UK television money. On the surface, that sounds like a good idea but that’s a one and done deal. If Khan beats Peterson in a rematch, then he’s screwed and will have to be satisfied with that one payday alone. But if he takes the Marquez option, he gets two fights out of it and will likely come out ahead financially.

The Khan rematch would be a great idea if you could count on a referee working the fight that would keep Khan from fouling all night long with his shoving, pulling down on Peterson’s head and his constant headlocks he put on Peterson last December. But the chances are that the referee that works the rematch will be one of those Laissez-faire types of referees that leaves the fighters to fight pretty unchecked in terms of fouling, and that would be a bad thing for Peterson. With Khan shoving him each time Peterson got close, it would give Khan a big advantage because he could escape the inside pressure without actually having to fight Peterson.

The big question is whether Peterson-Marquez would sell on PPV. I don’t know that it would unless Arum packed the card with Top Rank talent and I don’t know that he’ll be able to do this because if he puts on some other stars, it will mean that they’ll need good money as well. If the fight does poorly on PPV, then they all could suffer.