Boxing: Peterson to defend crown after layoff

Peterson will meet Holt on February 22 in Washington.

WASHINGTON: Lamont Peterson, finally set to defend the title he took from Britain’s Amir Khan in controversial fashion 14 months ago, says his long layoff will not be a problem against Kendall Holt next week.

When Zab Judah bowed out as mandatory challenger for another bout, Holt had his title chance and Peterson finally had an opponent.

The two will meet on February 22 in Peterson’s hometown of Washington.

“To me it feels great to get back into the ring,” Peterson said. “The layoff did not hurt me because I’ve been in the gym training like I was going to fight for the past year. I don’t believe in ring rust. A fighter fights and that’s what I do. But one good thing with the time off is that I have been able to rest my body and work on fine tuning my skills. I’m ready to fight now.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2013.