Boxing – Peterson v Santana and Garcia v Salka live

WBC and WBA champion Danny Garcia and his IBF counterpart, Lamont Peterson, are expected to meet in a light welterweight title unification match down the line, but first they both face tune-up fights in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Lamont Peterson v Edgar Santana

Held at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in New York, USA and screened on Box Nation from 02:00 hours in the UK, the penultimate bout on the card – and our first point of interest – sees 32-2-1 (16 KO) Peterson defend his belt against 29-4 (20 KO) Edgar Santana.

Peterson (1/20, Ladbrokes) is someone who I like to see win in the ring. After all, he spent a large part of his childhood homeless on the streets of Washington DC, and I admire people who overcome adversity. From nothing to everything, rags to riches and why we like films like Rocky, I think.

Anyway, as you probably know, Peterson defeated Amir Khan to win the IBF title in late 2011. Indeed, it proved to be a controversial match after Khan was docked two points for continually pushing his opponent away.

Quite honestly, after Khan had won the early rounds and Peterson looked to have done the same in the middle of the fight, and was in the ascendancy, I bet on a draw at 12/1 in-play and thought I was going to get it.

I won’t be going for a draw this weekend, however, but what I learnt from that bout – and a few others featuring the American – is that Peterson starts slowly.

He’s suffered the odd knockdown too. So while he his opponent, Santana, hasn’t fought in Peterson’s class before and should prove to be out of his depth, if we are to witness an upset – or just see Peterson floored – it should come in the early rounds.

A Puerto Rican from a rough, poor neighbourhood, Santana (12/1, Bet365) was once a fighter of great promise, but dropped a couple of close decisions and also had to serve a few months behind bars after his involvement in cocaine trafficking.

As the bout winner prices clearly indicate, Santana is rated as having slim to no chance of defeating Peterson, but with 20 KO’s from 29 wins he’s got a punchers chance and has nothing to lose.

All in all, nothing to lose, of course, can be a good mindset to have, but I expect Peterson – who has a 31 ½ inch reach advantage over his opponent – to get through the early rounds and win on points by a wide margin. He’s 6/4 to do that with Bet365.

However, at 7/1 with Paddy Power, Peterson to get knocked down is well worth a punt. At the price, I just had to have a little dabble.

Danny Garcia v Rod Salka

Inflicting knockdowns, or forcing the referee in to intervene and stop the contest with his opponent still on his feet, is exactly what the 28-0 Danny Garcia has to do later in the evening.