Boxing

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- In the Godzilla movies, the great, giant lizard that demolishes all emerges from the sea. Saturday night on Showtime, boxing's scariest monster emerged onto the beaches of Atlantic City: Lucas Matthysse. The first victim of a frightening new era for anyone around 140 pounds was Lamont Peterson, no worse than a top four man in the division, and a match-up that divided large swaths of fans nearly evenly. Those of us who picked Peterson were not even close, and even the fans who thought it would be a tight fight were way, way off. After an unexpected defensive duel in the 1st round, Matthysse dropped Peterson at the end of the 2nd with a left to the top of his head that ruined Peterson's equilibrium and resulted in a delayed-reaction knockdown. With his legs still shaky to start the 3rd, Peterson either couldn't fight at range like he had been or made the decision that he'd have to go inside. He landed one good uppercut that got the small crowd of no more than 2,000 -- but probably less than that -- excited that we could have a real fight on our hands. There was no home field advantage here, despite Matthysse's Argentina being so much farther away from Atlantic City than Peterson's Washington, D.C. Incidentally, Matthysse walked out to AC/DC's "Highway To Hell," so the AC/DC dynamic benefited Matthysse in multiple ways. Bad omen. Anyway, it was an illusion that Peterson would make something of his refined approach and his uppercut. When the pair traded left hooks, Matthysse landed on his back. When he got back up, referee Steve Smoger let him continue, but maybe he shouldn't have. One more right hand/left hand combo, and Peterson was down again, and this time Smoger understood Peterson was in no shape to continue. Peterson tried to say in the post-fight interview that he was done in by punches to the back of the head, and while there were indeed some rabbit shots, they weren't what caused all the trouble: Peterson just plain got smashed by an evil puncher, and Peterson has nothing to be ashamed of. If he fights Dierry Jean next, as his alphabet sanctioning belt would demand, it's a good bout, and no fans should hold it against Peterson that he got crushed. The victorious Matthysse was mobbed ringside by his fans, and it's hard not to be excited about him. He's in the hurt business, and he hurts people better than anyone fighting right now. Apparently the plan is still for him to fight Danny Garcia in September, but I wouldn't be surprised if Garcia finds a way out of that one. Before Saturday, I would've picked Garcia to win. No more. While it was easy to have reservations about whether Matthysse was a one-dimensional puncher and not much more based on how he was outboxed pretty extensively even in dubious losses to Zab Judah and Devon Alexander, Matthysse has knocked off the anemic work rate and slow starts of those days. He just sliced through a top-notch contender with the speed of a saw blade shot out of a bazooka. Make no mistake: Matthysse has teeth, and there's no point denying anymore whether everyone should be afraid.

Edgar Sosa moves closer to title shot witn win over Giovani Segura

Alexander earns convincing win over Purdy

Lucas Matthysse proved why he is one of the most feared men in boxing with a third round knockout of Lamont Peterson in Atlantic City.

Lee Purdy admitted that taking the fight at short notice played a major part in his defeat to Devon Alexander.

Devon Alexander claimed a seventh-round TKO victory over Britain's Lee Purdy in their welterweight fight in Atlantic City.

Shane Mosley unanimously outpointed Mexico's Pablo Cano on Saturday night to win for the first time in four years.

Lucas Matthysse stopped Lamont Peterson in the third round Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall in a matchup of junior-welterweight champions.

The four-year winless streak of 41-year-old Shane Mosley has ended, as the former lightweight, welterweight, and junior middleweight champion downed 23-year-old Pablo Cesar Cano via unanimous decision tonight in Cancun, Mexico. Mosley won the 12-round welterweight fight on scores of 115-113 across the board. BLH also had it 115-113 for Mosley. Mosley (47-8-1, 39 KO) had his struggles in the fight, and certainly didn't look like he was "back," which is what you're going to hear coming out of this fight. But he was better at this level, certainly, than he has been against the likes of Mayweather, Pacquiao, and Canelo, where he was outclassed by younger, stronger, better fighters, and also matched up better than he did against Sergio Mora, his last non-loss (a 2010 draw), because Cano was there to hit and be hit. It was a solid fight and decent win for Sugar Shane, who was reunited with his father Jack as lead trainer for the first time since Mosley's troublesome win over Ricardo Mayorga in September 2008. And though Cano (26-3-1, 20 KO) is no top contender, really, and is hardly a special fighter, he's also no bum. Mosley stood in there with him, hurt his foe with some good shots, and stood up to some solid blows in return. Both guys were staggered a bit at various points of the fight, and both fought on. Mosley, in the end, was legitimately the better man on the night, even if just barely. So what can we expect next? Cynically, a world title shot could be within Mosley's reach. He still has a little name value, certainly more than a lot of the would-be opponents out there, and Golden Boy has the WBA (Malignaggi) and IBF (Alexander) titles in their stable. If Adrien Broner beats Malignaggi in June, and decides to stay at 147, would anyone really be shocked to see Broner face Mosley? Or if Amir Khan indeed goes up to 147, would anyone be shocked to see Mosley as his first full weight test? So no, Mosley is not returned to his younger form. He never will be. But he got the win tonight and will fight another day. He gave a genuinely spirited effort and fought hard for all 12 rounds. He was as good as Cano, and that means he's as good as a lot of guys at 147. Compared to his prime, Mosley is shot. But a shot Mosley is still better than a competent, second-tier welterweight. And there are a lot of those guys out there.

IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander earned a convincing victory over Lee Purdy at Boardwalk Hall on Saturday night in a non-title bout.