By Allen Fox: Veteran referee Steve Smoger didn’t have any problem with the way former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan fought last weekend against Lamont Peterson, and says he wouldn’t have taken points away from Khan for his pushing off fouls that he committed all throughout the fight.

Khan lost two points for this foul from referee Joe Cooper and this resulted in Khan losing a close 12 round split decision.

Smoger said to RingTV “I wouldn’t have done it [take the points off for pushing off]. I would not have done it in that situation there.”

When asked if there was any other thing that Smoger may have had issue with in Khan’s performance, Smoger pointed out an elbow that Khan used for one of the pushes that he gave Peterson. Smoger said he would have warned Khan for that but not taken off a point.

What is kind of peculiar is that Smoger failed to say anything about Khan’s constant headlocks and grabbing of Peterson’s head to pull it down throughout the fight. This foul was a part of Khan’s inside game and it was much more frequent than the pushing off. Smoger didn’t say a word about that, which is obviously a good thing if you’re Khan or part of his management team.

If referees like Smoger are going to give Khan a free pass for grabbing his opponents’ heads and pulling down on them while in close, then Khan really doesn’t need to ever learn how to in fight, because he can use this tactic to shut down his opposition when they try and work on the inside. It seems kind of unfair, because Khan literally forces his opponents into a bent over position where he often rests his weight on the back of their necks. But if the referees are okay with this then I guess Khan can do what he pleases. I wonder if Smoger would penalize Khan’s opponents if they chose to hit him low when he’s pushing their heads down? WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley said that’s what he’ll do to Khan if he tries grabbing his head and fouling him like this.

It’s obviously going to put the referee in a bad position where he’ll have to decide which foul he wants to warn or take points off for. If the referee only blames Bradley for hitting low and doesn’t give Khan any warnings or penalizations for pushing down on his head, it could set up a bad situation where Bradley or whoever is facing Khan, might feel like they’re being singled out for unfair treatment. Referees ideally should be fair and consistent when taking off points or giving warnings for fouls.

Picking and choosing which fouls you want to take points off for sends the wrong message. If you have referees like that existing, promoters can basically cherry pick the referees that will work for their fighters. For some fighters it doesn’t really matter because they fight cleanly and don’t need a referee that will look the other way. However, a fighter like Khan, who loves to push off and pull down on the heads of his opponents in order to stop them from fighting on the inside, having a referee that will ignore these fouls is very important. It could make the difference between winning and losing for Khan.

Well, it’s good that Smoger let his views be known about Khan’s fouling because at least Peterson can raise issue if he’s selected to be the referee for their rematch. If Khan is allowed to do whatever he wants to do in the ring in terms of different kinds of fouls, Peterson has very little chance to win.