The welterweight division is usually one of the most talent-filled classes in boxing, and this current era is no exception.

IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr will be making his first defence of that title against veteran Lamont Peterson.

Errol Spence Jr

Spence has clearly established himself as the best boxer to come from the 2012 US Olympic team. He is 22-0 with 19 KOs, and at only 27 years old he still has a huge future ahead of him now after successfully winning his first world title from Kell Brook in England last year.

He has quickly gone from one of boxing’s hottest prospects to one of the sports top champions. Ring Magazine ranks Spence as number 8 in the world in the pound-for-pound rankings. One of the top American amateurs during his generation, Spence has plenty of youthful ambition combined with being one of the most devastating body punchers in the sport.

Lamont Peterson

Lamont Peterson is a an established boxer who has been a professional for almost 15 years. With a pro record of 35-3-1 and 17 KOs, Peterson has been in with some of the top fighters in and around his weight including Tim Bradley, Amir Khan, Danny Garcia, Lucas Matthyse, and Victor Ortiz.

Also having an extensive amateur career, Peterson has been considered a top contender for several years but has yet to have his true breakout moment that puts him in the A+ category. I personally felt he clearly deserved the win over Danny Garcia, and kinda laid out the blueprint for Keith Thurman to beat Danny as well.

My Prediction

This fight will be competitive, but clearly Spence is the favorite and rightly so. This will be Peterson’s big chance to pull off a career-defining win, so I expect him to be at his very best. At the end of the day though, Spence has too many advantages such as size, power, and general career momentum.

I think this fight will end up looking similar to Spence vs Brook, where Brook had many successful moments throughout the fight but ultimately wilted against the power shot of Spence late in the fight. Peterson will trouble Spence with his speed, he might have the speed advantage, but I’m going with Errol Spence by TKO in the late rounds, somewhere around the 10th after a competitive first half.

Peterson is definitely a quality opponent, but everybody knows that the big three in the welterweight division are now Errol Spence, Keith Thurman, and Terence Crawford who is expected to fight at 147 lbs next time out. Any combination of these three guys fighting would make for an exciting fight, and 2018 will surely sort out who is the best of class in this talent packed division.

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Sources:
http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/272077
http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/629465