The 30 year-old, who was a heavy favourite pre-fight, proved too skilful and elusive for Canadian Jean, who was simply beaten by the better fighter in a contest that put Peterson back in the mix for some bigger fights in the future.
Peterson was much more accurate with his punches and had the timing to keep Jean at bay at key stages – as the judges handed in 118-111, 116-112 and 115-113 cards for what was the champion’s second defence of his belt.
‘King Pete’ put his crushing loss to Argentinian hardman Lucas Matthysse firmly behind him with this convincing triumph and could now be in line for a unification with WBA and WBC title holder Danny Garcia in the latter part of 2014.
For Jean, 31, the Haitian-born boxer dropped his first loss in 26 bouts in his first real step up to the top level at 140lbs, and on this showing, will have to raise his game significantly to be in with a chance of taking a world crown anytime soon.
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