Tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET Showtime will kick off a triple-header featuring two title fights. Fans can live stream the trifecta of bouts by clicking this link. The main card will feature Daniel Jacobs facing Jarrod Fletcher for the vacant WBA middleweight title. Lamont Peterson will then defend his IBF light welterweight title vs. Edgar Santana before Danny "Swift" Garcia squares off against Rod Salka in a non-title bout.
Tonight's two main bouts, featuring Garcia and Peterson weren't particularly well received by much of the boxing public. As two of the top fighters in the 140-lb. division, the path seemed clear for them to engage in a unification bout.
Instead, the sanctioning bodies didn't even approve Salka as a title contender and changed the fight to a 10-rounder. Meanwhile Santana is a veteran opponent for Peterson, but at 35 years old isn't being given much of a shot at victory.
Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya has admitted that these two matchups were not what they had set out to make.
"We, obviously, did want to stage a fight that all the media was suggesting, Peterson versus Garcia, but it wasn't a fight that was available. It just wasn't available," Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya said. "It couldn't be made."
Peterson said of not fighting Garcia, "I let them know I wanted to fight Danny Garcia next because that's what the fans wanted to see.
"For me, if the fans want to see me fight someone, I'm going to push for that fight, so that's what I did. But it just didn't happen. At the end of the day I'm going to end up fighting a good fighter, Edgar Santana, and hopefully it can happen next time."
Garcia sounded a similar tune, deferring to his handlers as the ones who choose his battles. "You know, I don't pick my opponents. My manager Al Haymon does," Garcia said.
"And I never go against him. He picked the [Amir] Khan fight, he picked the [Lucas] Matthysse fight, he picked the Zab Judah fight, he picked the Herrera fight. He picked all my fights. I never question him about his decisions. I just accept the fight and my job is to train hard and go in there and give the people at the Barclays Center a great performance and a good fight."
The card is lengthy, and preliminary bouts can be seen on Showtime Extreme beginning at 7:00 p.m.
Predictions:
Daniel Jacobs def. Jarrod Fletcher via TKO in Rd. 11
Lamont Peterson def. Edgar Santana via unanimous decision
Danny Garcia def. Rod Salka by KO in Rd. 5
Full Fight Card:
Danny Garcia vs. Rod Salka
Lamont Peterson vs. Edgar Santana
Daniel Jacobs vs. Jarrod Fletcher
Zachary Ochoa vs. Luis Cervantes
Anthony Peterson vs. Edgar Riovalle
Marcus Browne vs. Paul Vazquez
Prichard Colon vs. Lenwood Dozier
D'Mitrius Ballard vs. Barry Trotter
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