By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Lamont Peterson spent more time defending his strategy Sunday morning than he did disputing the judges’ scoring following his majority decision defeat to Danny Garcia.

Peterson doesn’t think he should’ve been more aggressive earlier in their 12-round fight and doesn’t feel as though he gave away too many early rounds Saturday night at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The Washington, D.C., native contended he simply stuck with his game plan to wear down his opponent and began attacking Garcia at the appropriate time.

Nevertheless, two of the three judges – Don Ackerman and Kevin Morgan – gave Garcia five of the first six rounds. The other judge, Steve Weisfeld, scored each of the first six rounds for Garcia.

“Maybe if I would’ve sat down earlier [on my punches], he had a little more steam in my his punches – maybe I get caught, maybe I get hurt,” Peterson explained. “So I just wanted to stick to my game plan. The game plan was to let him tire out a little bit and then go for the kill. So I won’t say that I should’ve started early. I think I did it at the right time. But that’s just the way life goes sometimes.”

Morgan and Weisfeld scored the fight for Philadelphia’s Garcia (30-0, 17 KOs) by the same score, 115-113. Ackerman scored it even, 114-114.

Peterson (33-3-1, 17 KOs) won five of the final six rounds on the cards of Ackerman and Weisfeld. Morgan credited Peterson with winning four of the last six rounds.

“One round I know I gave away, and that’s when I started going forward,” Peterson added in regard to sacrificing early rounds. “I was going forward, but I wasn’t throwing punches. I was just trying to get a feel where his punches was at. So I knew he threw a lot. Even though he didn’t land, he out-threw me and he landed a few shots. I knew I gave that round away.

“But when I was moving around, he wasn’t hitting me. I was using my jab and moving. This is not UFC; this is boxing. The name of the sport is to hit and not be hit. And I got some jabs off and he pretty much couldn’t hit me. So I wouldn’t say I gave [the rounds away]. I just used a different strategy. We can go back and forth or whatever. I made my decision. Me and my trainer made a decision for a game plan and we stuck to it. At the end of the day, you’ve got to live with the results.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.