Khan vs. Peterson- A war that needs to be repeated!

By Boxing News - 12/14/2011 - Comments

Image: Khan vs. Peterson- A war that needs to be repeated!By Colm Hutchinson: On Saturday boxing fans were treated to a fantastic fight between the newly deposed Light-Welterweight champion, Amir Khan, and the new king of the division, Lamont Peterson. In what was another fight of the year candidate, both fighters served up a treat that swung from round to round, and never let up in action or ferocity.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate Lamont Peterson who showed tremendous heart, determination and a never say die attitude changing his tactics early in the fight and coming through despite taking Khan’s bombs that had closed his eye shut by the 12th round. I think we all can agree he surprised many of us with his willpower and ferocity and it was a great story to see a fighter battle from such a difficult childhood with the odds stacked against him to become the champion of the world.

Amir Khan’s fights never stray far from controversy, which is one of the reasons why he is liked and disliked in equal measure by fight fans across the world. Saturday was no exception in that we saw all that is both potentially great and inherently flawed in this quick fisted but naïve fighter. He started off as we know he does showing blistering hand speed to which Peterson had no answer, resulting in a knockdown in the first and racing into an early lead.

I stated in a previous article that how Peterson reacted to this would determine the outcome of the fight. Fight on the outside and he would have no chance, but force Khan backwards and he would really ask questions of Khan. Halfway through round 3, Lamont changed it up and charged at Khan hitting him with looping hooks to the head and body, visibly hurting Khan who taunted him as if to say he wasn’t affected.

Thus began a war of attrition. Khan was landing at will from outside with his combos and moved well but Peterson persevered, constantly stalking him, pushing him back and landing big power shots against the ropes. Since his loss to Prescott, Khan has been on a mission to prove he can take a punch and this proved to be his undoing. In my opinion, the kid has proved he has a good chin as he took some absolute bombs to the head and body but never went down.

Mr. Gilfoid posted an eloquent article just before the fight entitled, “Khan vs Peterson fight about to start-Look out for shards of Glass”. I think after Maidana and this fight Khan has shown his chin is pretty solid. However, proving you can take a punch doesn’t win you fights. I could not understand why he would cover up on the ropes and let Peterson smash him with combos when every time he moved away quickly and created distance he owned Peterson and had control over the engagements.

Credit must be given to Peterson for constantly closing the gap and forcing Khan to foul due to his lack of knowledge about the intricacies of fighting on the inside. What we learned is that Khan has a great chin and he has huge heart, but he doesn’t have the ring IQ to fight to his strengths, and at the elite level this is what separates the P4P kings from pretenders to the throne.

The fight was marred in controversy due to the referee’s point deductions against Khan that ultimately cost him the win. I do not like that this great fight was spoiled by a referee’s involvement and I feel a ref should never be the one who takes a champion’s belt from him. I believe the ref was really out of his depth from the comical moment in the 1st round where he was so badly positioned that he was the cause of Peterson hitting the canvas by becoming entangled with him. Furthermore, I feel that he was very one sided in his treatment of the fighters.
Let me state – I do believe Khan was guilty of consistent fouling in pushing off, pushing Peterson’s head down and using his elbow to fight him off. That is not up for debate. And I believe he merited the first point deduction as he had been warned on numerous occasions. Yet to say that Peterson fought a clean fight stretches the bounds of credibility. He was constantly leading with his head and using it to push Khan back onto the ropes before unleashing his combos. A fighter is allowed to duck down when coming in to avoid punches but he is not allowed to use his head to push the other fighter back. The ref repeatedly said in these exchanges, “Khan, let him up”, then said, “Peterson, keep your head up”. Surely Khan’s pushing down on Peterson was a direct result of Peterson pushing in low with his head?

I think Khan really struggled with this but I do have sympathy for him in that Peterson was allowed to get away with it. At one stage, Peterson bull-charged at Khan with his head pushing him onto the ropes. He then put his left elbow under Khan’s chin trapping him before hitting him with a huge right hand to the temple. Khan pushed down on Peterson’s head and was berated by the ref. I thought that move alone warranted a severe warning if not a point deduction for Lamont but the referee wasn’t interested. I liked the fact that the ref allowed inside fighting and encouraged them to fight out of clinches, but there needed to be a level of consistency that was not present and this proved to be the deciding factor in the result. In the post-fight interview Peterson even stated he didn’t have a problem with Khan’s pushing, rather his use of the elbow to tie him up, yet the ref had a different view. And I’m struggling to remember a recent championship fight where a fighter has had 2 point deductions for pushing!

This writer is trying to be objective in his analysis of the fight. I thought Khan was the superior boxer, won more rounds and ultimately deserved the win. Yet I was also amazed at his lack of ring IQ, his inability to fight inside and his bravado in fighting the game plan he isn’t suited to. He was the victim of his own decisions or lack thereof inside the ring. He must learn to play to his strengths if he is to succeed at the elite level.

Peterson, as proven throughout his life, came back from adversity and turned the fight to his advantage to create a brawl that Khan had huge difficulty in counteracting. He played to his strengths and etched out a win to become the champion. I was amazed at his heart, courage and determination. However, I believe he was helped by the referee and I for one, would not want to win a world championship based on my opponent’s point deductions. This is not a slight on his accomplishment; we must remember he was a huge underdog coming in to this fight. I just feel that a contender needs to beat the champion fair and square and I’m not convinced this was the case on Saturday. As a result, I feel a rematch in a neutral venue would be a good compromise.

As a pure boxing fan who likes action filled fights it is a match up I want to see again soon. I am sure it will be just as good as the intense battle of speed vs brawn that we all enjoyed on Saturday. One last thing about Khan, I am a fan of the kid, but he needs to learns how to be humble. Although he was upset with the referee, his post-fight comments were embarrassing. He could learn a thing or two about classiness and humility from Lamont.

Lastly, congratulations to both fighters on an epic battle!



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