The Biggest Takeaways from PBC on NBC: Danny Garcia vs. Lamont Peterson
The second go-round with Premier Boxing Champions on NBC came and went Saturday night from Brooklyn, New York, with a pair of compelling 12-round fights, a pair of decisions that became instant fodder for the Twitterverse and another broadcast that had its high and low moments.
The announced paid attendance at the Barclays Center was 12,300.
Andy Lee and Peter Quillin went the distance in what became a non-title bout when Quillin failed to make 160 pounds on Friday, and they were followed by reigning 140-pound champions Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson getting together in an over-the-weight bout that could spawn another.
It was a step up in fight quality after last month’s debut broadcast featured Adrien Broner’s prolonged outclassing of John Molina Jr. and Keith Thurman’s largely dominant thrashing of a game but outgunned Robert Guerrero. The PBC series moves to Spike TV on April 24 for a two-bout show featuring Andre Dirrell against Badou Jack and Daniel Jacobs versus Caleb Truax.
Click through to see Saturday’s biggest takeaways.
Two NBC Shows In, and the Jury Is Still Out
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If nothing else, the second PBC on NBC show had star power.
The network dug deep into its star-studded pockets and began the broadcast with special contributor Bob Costas, who combined with fellow veterans Marv Albert and Al Michaels for the first time in a collective career that’s included 25 Super Bowls, 25 NBA Finals, 23 Olympics and 19 World Series.
Costas presented a primer on boxing’s long history in New York and got things off to a strong start, though the same troubles that dogged the inaugural broadcast last month—long stretches of silence, cliched and repetitive content, inattention to detail—resumed with the ringside team of Albert, Ray Leonard and BJ Flores.
The awkwardness was particularly noticeable in the main event between Garcia and Peterson, which had the voices all leaning heavily toward Peterson in the early going, even as unofficial ringside scorer Steve Farhood scored seven of the first nine rounds for Garcia. Some input from Farhood—either anecdotally or with a microphone—would have filled in what was a large contextual gap.
On Second Thought, Kid Chocolate, All Is Forgiven
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Most of the cyber boxing world—not to mention Lee himself and most of the fans in the house in Brooklyn—was pre-programmed to brand Quillin as “unprofessional” after he failed to make weight on Friday and devolved a championship fight into a non-title affair.
But by the time it was over, it was all about the rematch.
Quillin scored a pair of knockdowns, Lee had one of his own and both men were wobbled several more times as the two fighters combined for 12 rounds that may not have been Canastota-worthy, but they certainly were worth another look six months from now.
The judges were similarly split in their perceptions, with one awarding the match to Lee, another awarding it to Quillin and the third calling it even to provide a split-decision draw that both combatants accepted.
Incidentally, Bleacher Report scored it 114-112 for Quillin.
“I thought it was a hard fight to score,” Lee told NBC’s Kenny Rice in the ring after the fight. “He had the knockdowns. I boxed consistently. A draw is a fair decision. We can do it again but for the title next time.”
Breaking News: Gennady Golovkin Is in No Danger
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Lee remained a titleholder. Quillin remained undefeated.
And wherever he was on Saturday night, Gennady Golovkin presumably remained unconcerned.
The IBO/WBA kingpin at middleweight was already considered the best 160-pounder in the world by a lot of people enraptured by a streak of KOs that stretches back to 2008, and nothing shown over 36 minutes by either the former or incumbent WBO champions should change those viewpoints.
Neither Lee nor Quillin were busy enough Saturday to contend with the grinding aggression the unbeaten Kazakh has typically shown, and the paucity of jabs thrown by either man would provide Golovkin everything but an engraved invite to march straight to their ribcages and chins.
Someone out there may indeed beat “Triple-G,” but chances are his name isn’t Andy or Peter.
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Battered but Still Undefeated
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Garcia emerged from his 12 rounds with Peterson with spent lungs and a badly scraped face, but nonetheless he earned the nod from two judges—offsetting a third who saw it even.
It was the third straight fight in which reviews on the Philadelphia-born slugger are likely to be lukewarm. He had routed Rod Salka in two rounds in his previous fight last August but was heavily criticized afterward for facing an unqualified challenger. Five months earlier, his well-hyped return to familial roots in Puerto Rico ended in a controversial majority decision over Mauricio Herrera.
NBC’s ringside crew of Albert, Flores and Leonard seemed to think Peterson had done more than enough to deserve Saturday’s decision, but, not surprisingly, Garcia disagreed.
Bleacher Report scored it even, 114-114.
“Like I told him, you can’t win a big fight running,” he said. “At the end he came strong at me because he knew he was losing on points. It was a hell of a fight, and we can do it again. We can do it again at 147.”
Garcia’s Got a Welterweight Welcoming Committee
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When Garcia told NBC’s Rice that he’d welcome a Peterson rematch—at 147 pounds—he made his long-awaited hike into a new weight class all but a done deal.
And when he does officially arrive at 147, it won’t be just Peterson waiting for him.
Former WBA champion and two-time Floyd Mayweather Jr. victim Marcos Maidana went to Facebook with images of him and Garcia alongside each other, with a provocative message underneath.
Maidana and Garcia share two common opponents. The Argentine lost a decision to Amir Khan and won a verdict from Erik Morales, while Garcia stopped Khan and beat Morales twice—once by decision and once inside the distance.
“I don’t care who won tonight, but nobody will save Danny if we fight,” Maidana wrote. “I’ll give Danny the real welcome to the welterweight division. Let’s do it.”
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