Newly-crowned WBA/IBF Super Lightweight champion Lamont Peterson will receive DC's Key to the City from DC Mayor Vincent Gray on Thursday afternoon at the John A. Wilson Building located at 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW on Thursday (tomorrow) at 1 PM.
The ceremony will be held in the first floor lobby, assuming that this will be open to the public. Other participants will include DC Council Chairman Kwame Brown, Events DC President/CEO Greg O’Dell, DC Boxing and Wrestling Commission Chairman Bryan Scottie Irving, trainer Barry Hunter and pro boxer brother Anthony Peterson.
Gary is it true that pushing is not a foul you can take points away for?......thats what golden boy is saying.
ReplyDeleteGary did you see the recent interview with Richard shafer, he was pretty hard on the dc boxing commission? What are your thought's on the interview and its impact on DC getting big fights in the future?
ReplyDeleteThanks for both questions.
ReplyDelete1. Excessive pushing, like anything else that is excessive, can force a referee to take away points. I've been told that both boxers were warned about the pushing in the pre-fight instructions. Golden Boy, as they have been doing over the past two weeks, is crying sour grapes.
2. Which leads to the interview. I've seen written excerpts on this and again, it's a lot of sour grapes.
As far as its impact, I think it will be minimal because we have the boxers people want to see, including many of the boxers Golden Boy is affiliated with (Seth Mitchell, Dusty Harrison, Gary Russell, Jr. and possibly Fernando Guerrero). Golden Boy needs this area as much as this area needs them. Golden Boy will make more money with DC than without them as far as those boxers go.
They also should know that the best chance they have of making money with the rematch is to have it right back here. Golden Boy can choose the refs and the judges if they'd like. But if the rematch is at Verizon Center, it is an almost certainty that 20,000 people go there. I know it's a pipe dream but stranger things have happen.
I think DC, if they act quickly and intelligently enough, can do some big things in boxing. DC, if you believe what was said today at the ceremony, wants to be a big player in boxing, pro wrestling and MMA. Between the DC Boxing and Wrestling Commission and Events DC, they now have the organizational structure to do that. They also have the higher ups in DC government backing them. They now need to make good decisions and keep the momentum going.