ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- In the Godzilla movies, the great, giant lizard that demolishes all emerges from the sea. Saturday night on Showtime, boxing's scariest monster emerged onto the beaches of Atlantic City: Lucas Matthysse.

The first victim of a frightening new era for anyone around 140 pounds was Lamont Peterson, no worse than a top four man in the division, and a match-up that divided large swaths of fans nearly evenly. Those of us who picked Peterson were not even close, and even the fans who thought it would be a tight fight were way, way off. After an unexpected defensive duel in the 1st round, Matthysse dropped Peterson at the end of the 2nd with a left to the top of his head that ruined Peterson's equilibrium and resulted in a delayed-reaction knockdown.

With his legs still shaky to start the 3rd, Peterson either couldn't fight at range like he had been or made the decision that he'd have to go inside. He landed one good uppercut that got the small crowd of no more than 2,000 -- but probably less than that -- excited that we could have a real fight on our hands. There was no home field advantage here, despite Matthysse's Argentina being so much farther away from Atlantic City than Peterson's Washington, D.C. Incidentally, Matthysse walked out to AC/DC's "Highway To Hell," so the AC/DC dynamic benefited Matthysse in multiple ways. Bad omen.

Anyway, it was an illusion that Peterson would make something of his refined approach and his uppercut. When the pair traded left hooks, Peterson landed on his back. When he got back up, referee Steve Smoger let him continue, but maybe he shouldn't have. One more right hand/left hand combo, and Peterson was down again, and this time Smoger understood Peterson was in no shape to continue. Peterson tried to say in the post-fight interview that he was done in by punches to the back of the head, and while there were indeed some rabbit shots, they weren't what caused all the trouble: Peterson just plain got smashed by an evil puncher, and Peterson has nothing to be ashamed of. If he fights Dierry Jean next, as his alphabet sanctioning belt would demand, it's a good bout, and no fans should hold it against Peterson that he got crushed.

The victorious Matthysse was mobbed ringside by his fans, and it's hard not to be excited about him. He's in the hurt business, and he hurts people better than anyone fighting right now. Apparently the plan is still for him to fight Danny Garcia in September, but I wouldn't be surprised if Garcia finds a way out of that one. Before Saturday, I would've picked Garcia to win. No more. While it was easy to have reservations about whether Matthysse was a one-dimensional puncher and not much more based on how he was outboxed pretty extensively even in dubious losses to Zab Judah and Devon Alexander, Matthysse has knocked off the anemic work rate and slow starts of those days. He just sliced through a top-notch contender with the speed of a saw blade shot out of a bazooka. Make no mistake: Matthysse has teeth, and there's no point denying anymore whether everyone should be afraid.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Keep coming back here for updates on the undercard for Showtime's main event of Lucas Matthysse-Lamont Peterson (junior welterweight). It's a DEEP card, in terms of number of fights, which I previewed here. Highlights -- among the "names", anyway -- include Anthony Peterson, Shawn Porter and Devon Alexander, as well as other brothers of famous fighters or 2012 Olympians.

Because the first fight was at 3:30 p.m., I opted to show up a little late and therefor missed the first three bouts, all TKOs for lightweights Robert Easter, Jr. and Jamel Herring and bantamweight Rau'Shee Warren. The live results will go in reverse chronological order.

At Friday's weigh-in for Lamont Peterson-Lucas Matthysse Saturday on Showtime, BoxingScene's David Greisman and I did some interviews on the fight itself, the topics in the headline, some upcoming bouts, the latest figure for Floyd Mayweather-Robert Guerrero pay-per-view sales and more. Read on for word from welterweight/Showtime commentator Paulie Malignaggi; upward-moving junior welterweight Amir Khan;  and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer.

It's one of those kind of fights, is Lamont Peterson vs. Lucas Matthysse Saturday on Showtime: The more you dissect it, the more footage you watch, the harder it gets to figure out who will win. You might have started off one way and flipped back and forth repeatedly. In that sense, your fractured crystal ball reflects the odds in general -- by one sports book, Matthysse is the ultra-narrow favorite, but the closer it gets to fight night, the more writers come out picking Peterson.

That kind of fight might be enticing enough on its own, but the attraction is compounded by yet other things, like the ways in which Peterson and Matthysse are alike, and they ways they're different. Matthysse is a brawler who can box; Peterson is a boxer who can brawl. If you mope around lamenting the sorry state of body punching in boxing today, this weekend has a pot of gold to cheer you up. Even if both men take turns avoiding contact for stretches, there will be a significant percentage of the war waged in the trenches. The winner, too, will cement his spot as a top-two fighter in the top-heavy 140-pound division, with a nearly equally compelling fight awaiting the victor against Danny Garcia that could crown a new lineal junior welterweight champion.

Peterson-Matthysse has got all of the colors of the rainbow, only if a rainbow could be drenched in blood -- pretty, mixed with violent, mixed with the sharp-contrasting-mingling colors, mixed with the excitement of such a rare event. There are people, and I'm one of them, who have been looking forward to this bout more than any other on the 2013 calendar.

(A cast of thousands, from left: Anthony Peterson; Devon Alexander; Lamont Peterson; Lee Purdy; Anthony Ogogo)

If you're headed to Atlantic City this weekend for one of the year's best main events -- the junior welterweight scrap between Lamont Peterson and Lucas Matthysse -- or even if you're just trying to figure out how much of the Showtime/Sho Extreme broadcasts you want to catch, here's a handy guide to the men on the TEN-FIGHT UNDERCARD. The one that begins at THREE THIRTY P.M. It walks a fine line between, "Wow, lots of boxing for my money!" and "Uh, is it worth it to be at the fights for the equivalent of a full workday, and what happens if there are a bunch of early knockouts, won't I just be sitting around for hours anyway?" But there are some worthwhile fights and fighters on the undercard, and I believe they'll run in the order I listed below, latest to earliest. I'll change it around if I find out differently later.

(Dusty Harrison, left, and D.C. based rapper Wale, right; via)

These are flush times for D.C. boxing. This Saturday, two of the top ticketsellers in the Beltway will appear on separate cards: junior welterweight contender Lamont Peterson fights in Atlantic City against Lucas Matthysse, while blue chip welterweight prospect Dusty Hernandez Harrison holds down the home front in Washington, D.C. in a step-up bout.

Acclaimed amateur Harrison made headlines for getting an exemption from local boxing regulators to begin his professional career at the green age of 17. Approximately two years later, he's fighting his first pro opponent with a winning record, Eddie Soto, and in only his second eight-round bout. It's an important moment in Harrison's career, one that in it short life has been wrestling -- and by the testimonials of his team, successfully so far -- with one word: "maturity," both mental and physical.

"I think it's a really good test for me, a perfect step-up fight," Harrison said in an interview with TQBR this week.

Key Harrison team member Jeff Fried said that with Harrison as the headliner of a nine-fight card Saturday at the University of the District of Columbia Sports Complex, they have every expectation of him selling out the 3,000-seat venue, although it's a bigger venue by a factor of three than Harrison has ever headlined.

Harrison is one of the torchbearers for a revival of boxing in the region, led by the Peterson brothers, featherweight Gary Russell, Jr., and heavyweights Seth Mitchell and Tony Thompson. Each are at varying stages of their careers, having suffered setbacks they haven't yet bounced back from (Mitchell/Anthony Peterson), having suffered setbacks subsequently overcome (Lamont Peterson/Thompson) or not having taken off yet at all (Russell). Harrison, all of 18 years old, is somewhere between the second two categories.

In August of last year, Harrison got dropped hard in the 6th and final round by 2-5-0 Marqus Jackson. The video is compelling footage. Fried, who has advised the likes of Riddick Bowe, Shane Mosley and Winky Wright, said he watched it 40 times while trying to decide whether to join forces with Harrison and his trainer father, Buddy. And everyone thinks -- oddly enough -- it was a wonderful occasion.

"I think it was the best thing that has happened to me," Harrison said.

Lucas Matthysse, the hard punching Argentine, WBC interim junior welterweight titlist and number one Ring-ranked junior welterweight, will challenge the IBF strapholder Lamont Peterson this Saturday in Atlantic City. It’s a storied town, one that has seen some classic fights down the years. Yet it’s also synonymous with the darker side of the sweet science, and the forces at work behind the scenes that so often keep the fans and their expectations tantalizingly apart. I suppose in that sense it’s the perfect setting for these two, given the extent to which their respective careers have been intertwined with that mercurial virtue known as justice.

Get excited, there are some good fights this week. There is also a ridiculously cool Game of Thrones poster at the top of this post, designed by Saul Bass and available for $40. We’d really like to see someone do something similar for some vintage fight posters – how cool would that be?

Anyway – from Moscow to Cancun, let’s get to the fights.

Since Patrick Connor already had you covered for Friday Night Fights and I already had you covered for ShoBox on an already-light week, there normally would be little need for any Weekend Afterthoughts. But a few contenders of note were in action, including a few who found themselves amid some drama, so here's a drizzling of W.A.'s:

• Jamie McDonnell vs. Julio Ceja. This was the bout of the weekend -- two contenders wringing every ounce of sweat out of their bodies and fighting at a high level. In the end, McDonnell had just a smidge more technique, movement and overall ability than the more brawling-oriented Ceja, pulled away for a majority decision and probably established himself as a top-5 bantamweight in the process (although it's a thinner division these days than just a year or two ago). McDonnell pulled away in the 12th after a hotly-contested 11th where Ceja landed a big left hook. I did not closely score the fight because most people seemed to agree while watching it live and McDonnell looked to be in control more often than not, although one U.K. paper found the decision controversial, rather than just the too-wide 118-110 scorecard. Excellent stuff, this. More McDonnell, more Ceja.
• Ricky Burns vs. Jose Gonzalez. This was the most puzzling outcome of the weekend -- one man, Gonzalez, putting on a masterclass of boxing against the #1 lightweight if you assume Adrien Broner is departing permanently, Burns, only to quit after the 9th round. Gonzalez was absolutely owning Burns through seven rounds, controlling distance and making his jabs whiff short. But in the 7th round both men traded in a Round of the Year candidate. At some point around there, Gonzalez reportedly hurt his hand or wrist, and he appeared to run out of gas, and he didn't look like he took it well that Burns stood up to his finishing charge. Either his true character was revealed, i.e. adversity and Gonzalez don't mix, or else he'll take the criticism he got for quitting to heart and turn into a warrior a la Vitali Klitschko after he was criticized for quitting with an injured shoulder, or hell, maybe he'll do the Victor Ortiz hybrid thing where he's in nasty brawls that suggest he's now a MAN but also does mentally fragile things all the time, too. Burns might've been in sub-optimal shape or state of mind after his career jerking around with promoter switches and abandoned bouts, but he lives to fight another day and showed heart, experience and a little luck can bail you out on an off-night in the ring against an opponent in a groove.
• Vic Darchinyan vs. Javier Gallo. Darchinyan got revenge for the recently-deceased movie critic legend Robert Ebert against Vincent Gallo, whose movie "Brown Bunny" Ebert and Gallo famously got in a flame war over... sorry, read that wrong. Javier, not Vicent. Anyway, after getting rocked in the 1st by a Gallo right hand, Darchinyan took over and dropped Gallo a total of four times en route to putting him down for good in the 4th round. He might get Victor Terrazas next if Nonito Donaire doesn't, or he could face true junior featherweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux. Either match-up means another meaningful fight for Darchinyan, who is in the midst of his latest career revival at age 37. That's more likely to be cut short against Rigo than Terrazas, but even his recent losses get better all the time -- Abner Mares and Shinsuke Yamanaka in particular have established themselves as the real deal.
• Kazuto Ioka vs. Winsanu Kokietgym. Junior flyweight Ioka didn't beat anyone all that legit, but the lengthy highlight clip I saw was still fulfilling. Ioka doesn't waste much motion, almost flicking out his punches and standing in the pocket while defending himself with subtle adjustments of his gloves or tiny twists of the neck. He only started getting hit late because he was going for the stoppage, which he got in the 9th off a body shot. God, that fight against Roman Gonzalez would've been a doozy had Ioka's team not turned it down in the name of accumulating experience. Another junior flyweight contender in action against limited competition, Adrian Hernandez, struggled more than Ioka according to Dan Rafael, but I haven't been able to track down the bout myself.