Last night in front of a packed audience at the Roseland Ballroom, Brooklyn’s Travis Peterkin (5-0, 3KO’s) made his DiBella Entertainment debut, scoring an impressive four-round unanimous decision over Hamid Abdul Mateen. Both Peterkin and Mateen are former New York Golden Gloves champions, but right from the get-go, it was evident that Peterkin was going to be too much for Mateen.
With the victory under his belt, and an exclusive promotional contract with DBE as well, Peterkin is looking to have the type of breakout year that everyone has been anticipating for him since he turned pro in 2011 after claiming the 2010 Golden Gloves title.
“I was happy to get back in there and get some work,” said Peterkin. “I hadn’t fought since January, so I was pleased to get some rounds in and showcase my skills in front of my hometown fans. I am thrilled to have Lou (DiBella) as my promoter. I am a New York DBE guy so it just seemed logical for me to sign with DiBella. Lou is the top promoter here on the East Coast and I know with him behind me that I will have a very bright future in this sport.”
An astounding amateur and fixture on the New York boxing scene for years, Peterkin began boxing at the age of 11 and compiled an impressive 95-7 record before turning pro in January 2011 with a first-round TKO over Edgar Sanjurjo. Peterkin quickly ran his record to 3-0 with three first-round knockouts by July, but then he didn’t fight again until January 2012. After that bout, Peterkin was put on the shelf once again, as he was dealing with promotional issues with his previous promoter. A Brooklyn native himself, Lou DiBella had his eye on Peterkin for some time and as soon as the word came that he was a promotional free agent, DiBella quickly made the move to sign the undefeated prospect.
“I believe that Travis has the potential to be the next great fighter to come out of Brooklyn, which has a longstanding tradition of producing such great fighters,” said DiBella. “Travis has that ‘wow’ factor. He is young, talented, charismatic, and he can put you to sleep with either hand. You combine those four traits and you have something special. We are happy to be promoting Travis and working with a great team behind him with my good friends Jay and Alan Wartski as his managers and world renowned trainer Jimmy Glenn calling the shots in the corner.”
“We are excited to be working with Lou on Travis’ career,” said Wartski. “Lou and I have a great relationship with one another, and there isn’t another promoter in the world that I would feel more comfortable with to sign one of my fighters. We are excited to watch Travis grow under the DBE banner.”
“I have been around this sport for a very long time and I know real potential when I see it, and that’s what we have in Travis,” said Glenn. “In my opinion, Lou knows how to groom a fighter better than any other promoter in the industry and, for that reason, when it came time to decide who we wanted to sign with, Lou was our number one choice. Travis is the real deal, and it won’t be long until everyone in the boxing world echoes that sentiment.”
Look for Peterkin to be back in action very soon.
