Peterson stops Holt in 8 rounds to retain IBF crown

Lamont Peterson with IBF belt after stoppage win Lamont Peterson, showing no rust after a 14-month layoff, stopped Kendall Holt in the eighth round to retain the International Boxing Federation light-welterweight crown .Peterson, once a homeless child on the streets of the US capital where he defended his title, improved to 31-1-1 with his 16th stoppage inside the distance when referee Tony Weeks stopped the fight after 1:42 of the eighth.
Holt fell to 28-6 with his fourth loss in seven fights.
Peterson, 29, ended a 14-month layoff following a positive doping test for synthetic testosterone that scrapped a planned fight with England's Amir Khan last May. Holt, 31, ended an 11-month layoff after right shoulder surgery.
Peterson, who blamed his positive test on treatments for low testosterone, was stripped of the World Boxing Association title, one of two he took from Khan in a controversial victory at Washington in December of 2011.
But the IBF, after hiring its own medical expert and conducting more tests that found no enhancement advantage, kept Peterson as champion, giving him the chance to defend his title and reputation.
The bout brought only $37,500 for Peterson and $12,500 for Holt, but could offer Peterson a possible big-money unification showdown.
Unbeaten American Danny Garcia, 25-0 with 16 knockouts, will defend the WBA and World Boxing Council crowns in April against US southpaw Zab Judah (42-7 with 29 knockouts), who rejected a Peterson fight for the bigger Garcia payday.
Both fighters were cautious early, neither managing a combination except for body shots when embracing each other.
Holt pressed the attack to start the fourth round, keeping Peterson on the defensive, but the champion deflected the worst of Holt's blows and answered with a hard right hand punch that sent Holt to the canvas.
The challenger crumpled and fell forward onto his knees, but rose and answered the count moments before the end of the fourth.
Peterson punished Holt for most of the fifth, a weary Holt pinning him against the ropes with his body at one stage but gaining little relief from hammering punches to the head and body.
In the sixth, Peterson kept Holt to the ropes and landed more than a dozen rapid-fire punches to only one in response from Holt, who kept his arms raised as cover and took a knee, rising to finish the round but clearly in trouble.
Holt hugged, evaded and jabbed to keep Peterson at bay in the seventh but in the eighth, Peterson stunned Holt with a solid right to the head and launched a series of punches with Holt on the ropes until Weeks stepped between the fighters to end the punishment.
Source: AFP