By William Mackay: Number #1 ranked International Boxing Federation contender Lamont Peterson (29-1-1, 15 KO’s) thinks IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-1, 18 KO’s) has been selectively matched in his previous fights by being put in with shorter and older fighters rather than taller, younger fighters.

You have to kind of agree with Peterson because most of Khan’s opponents have been shorter than him with the exception of the 5’11” Breidis Prescott, who knocked Khan out in one round. To this day, Khan still hasn’t shown any interest in avenging that defeat. Khan has fought older, shorter guys like Marco Antonio Barrera, Paulie Malignaggi, Andriy Kotelnik, Michael Gomez and Zab Judah.

Khan and Peterson meet up on December 10th in a fight at the Convention Center in Washington, DC. Khan is favored to win, but you never know because of his weak chin. He can be knocked out at a moment’s notice if Peterson can connect with a halfway decent shot.

In an interview at Sky Sports News, Peterson said “I would say I’m the toughest fighter Khan has faced so far. In a lot of his fights, he’s fought older or much shorter fighters and he had a lot of physical advantages over them. He’s not going to have any of those advantages over me. I’m much more comfortable at this level…To me, Khan is similar to Tim Bradley. They are hustle fighters. They just try to outpoint you…I’d say Khan is about the same challenge as Victor Ortiz or Bradley.

Peterson is 5’9” compared to the slightly taller 5’10” Khan. However, Peterson has a three inch reach advantage at 74” compared to Khan’s 71” reach. That’s going to be important for Peterson because Khan lives and dies with his reach advantage. In the Prescott fight, Khan had the shorter reach and it cost him seconds into the fight when Prescott was able to stagger Khan with a simple jab.