By Allan Fox: Amir Khan was highly complementary of IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. (23-0, 20 KOs) in his performance Saturday night in beating his former conqueror Lamont Peterson (35-4-1, 17 KOs) by a 7th round knockout at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The fight was shown on Showtime.
It’s not surprising that Khan is taking an interest in Spence’s fight with Peterson, because he could be facing him in the future if he doesn’t get bludgeoned later this year in his big money match against former IBF 147 lb. champion Kell Brook. Khan signed with Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn, and it’s almost certain the two British fighters will meet up in December.
If Khan doesn’t lose that fight, then he’ll look to challenge for a welterweight title in 2018 against Spence or WBA, WBC champion Keith Thurman.
Boxing News 24 had Spence up 7 rounds to zip at the time the fight was officially stopped after the 7th had ended. Peterson hit the deck in the 5th, and he never got untracked with his offense. Peterson landed a few nice shots in the fight, but he wasn’t consistent with his offense. He looked like he was afraid of Spence.
Spence was asked at the post-press conference last Saturday night if he’d be willing to fight Khan next, and he just laughed without answering the question.
Spence knocked Peterson down in round 5, and then toyed with him in rounds 6 and 7th. After the 7th, Peterson’s corner decided he’d had enough and they chose to half the fight rather than let the one-sided affair continue to the conclusion. The way that Spence, 27, was dishing out punishment, the fight would have been over in a round or 2.
Here is Amir Khan commenting on Spence’s 7th round blowout win over Lamont Peterson from last Saturday night on Twitter:
“Well done to Errol Spence. Great performance tonight against Peterson. He showed great skills & inside fighting.”
Spence, 27, was much too strong, too big and too young for the 33-year-old Peterson to contend with last night in their fight on Showtime Championship Boxing. There was all that stacked against Peterson last night. If that wasn’t enough, Peterson was coming off of an 11 month layoff from action. The last time Peterson fought was back in February of last year in his win over David Avanesysan. It was a bad situation for Peterson to be stepping into in challenging Spence for his IBF 147 lb. title.
If Khan is able to make a successful comeback after being out of the ring for 2 years, he could be meeting up with Spence before long. Spence has the IBF welterweight title right now. Khan isn’t likely going to fight the winner of the Jeff Horn vs. Terence Crawford match for the WBO welterweight belt, as they’re Top Rank fighters. That leaves only Spence or WBA/WBC champion Keith Thurman for Khan o eventually face at 147.
Khan lost to Peterson by a 12 round split decision 6 years ago on December 10, 2011. There was some controversy surrounding the results of the fight back then, as Khan lost 2 points for pushing off on Peterson in rounds 7 and 12. If not for those 2 point deductions, Khan would have won the fight. The fight took place in Peterson’s hometown of Washington, DC.
Khan, 31, will be back inside the ring making his comeback on April 21 against an opponent still to be named at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK. It’s going to be a non-threatening opponent for the former light welterweight champion Khan, given that he’s not had a fight since his 6th round knockout loss to Saul Canelo Alvarez on May 7, 2016. Khan looked good in that fight until he was caught by a right hand from Alvarez.