(Khan seen here about to shove Peterson hard using his forearm) By Scott Gilfoid: To listen to Amir Khan’s loving boxing fans bellyache today about his close 12 round split decision loss last night against Lamont Peterson, it’s quite sad. It doesn’t register with Khan’s loyal fans that he deserved to be penalized twice for shoving the heck out of Peterson when he on the attack and trying to win the fight.

Many of Khan’s fans feel that he should have been allowed to shove Peterson hard without being penalized for it. They thought it was okay for Khan to wrap his arms around Peterson’s head and lean forward to twist Peterson out of punching position. That was fine with them. It’s all good, right? I’m sorry to be the one to break this to Khan’s fans but shoving is illegal in boxing. Although some referees forget the rules and let fighters like Khan get away it, the fact of the matter is that’s not within the rules of the sport. Khan was using shoving as a way to get out of having to fight Peterson on the inside and he eventually lost points for it after receiving three prior warnings to stop this practice before the 7th.

When Khan did lose a point, you’d think Peterson had committed a crime with all the complaining that was going on with the HBO analysts last night. None of them understood why Khan lost a point, even though Max Kellerman did point out to all those listening that Khan did receive three warnings to stop with the shoves. Khan didn’t listen so he lost a point.

My thoughts are this: Should Khan be allowed to break rules like shoving, putting fighters in headlocks and pulling down on their heads? I know HBO has Khan under contract to show his fights with their network, but does that mean he should be allowed to foul without being penalized? I saw a lot more than shoving last night from Khan that he didn’t get penalized for. I saw low blows and a couple of instances where Khan held and hit.

In the 6th round, Khan snaked his left around Peterson’s head and while holding him in place, Khan nailed Peterson with three straight right uppercuts to the head all without being penalized. Khan’s technique was beautiful for the holding and hitting. It looked like it was straight out of a textbook page in what not to do in a fight. I wish I could say this was the first time I’d ever seen Khan pull the old holding hitting bit in one of his fights. I’ve never seen him lose points for that move, ever. And he got away with a ton of fouling last night. It was just overwhelming all the fouls that Khan was allowed to do.

So to make Khan’s fans happy, should he be allowed to foul to his heart’s content and fight under different rules than other fighters so he can be successful? I think not. Khan needs to learn how to without fouling or deal with the consequences.