In an all-out war, Lamont Peterson finally lived up to his potential as a true boxing champion. Peterson came with relentless pressure to squeeze out a split decision win against Amir Khan. This fight did come with controversy. Joe Cooper, the third man in the ring, did a hometown referring job. Khan was deducted two points for pushing with no hard warnings prior to the deduction. Cooper also rarely warned Peterson for similar pushing and leading with his head. The referee pressure was focused on Khan. Cooper also seemed to almost get caught up with the fighters several times. In the first round, Cooper’s legs became tangled with Peterson’s resulting in a slip by the fighter.
Regardless of Cooper, as Max Kellerman stated in the post-fight commentary, no one deserves a hometown decision without putting in a performance like Lamont. With a questionable knockdown, two point deductions, and two very entertaining styles, 9,000 fans in Washington D.C. witnessed a classic battle.
What we saw to end the year was two different styles that resulted in a fight of the year candidate. Khan, who looked very sharp, and showed tremendous heart and courage, is a very fast and crafty boxer. He throws flashy combinations, used beautiful angles, and lands clean punches in bunches. Surprisingly, Peterson also showed comparable speed. Peterson, who is known to be more of a boxer, applied relentless pressure and landed some of the most unforgiving body shots boxing has seen in a while. Although these body shots did not stop Khan, you could hear their power and see the effect that they took on Khan as the camera showed the energy being passed from Peterson’s glove to Khan’s midsection.
Depending on the judge, this fight could have gone either way (with or without the crazy point deductions and slip/knockdown). If you like pressure, and felt those body shots from ringside, Peterson would get any swing rounds. If you like speed, combinations, and angles, Khan would get the edge on those scorecards. If you take Joe Cooper out of the equation, forgetting about the knockdown and point deductions, 1 point would be added to Khan on each scorecard. Khan would have kept his belts by eking out the majority draw.
As Peterson acquired the titles, Khan built his respect. Amir showed his chin, heart, and true fighter spirit by travelling to the home of the challenger and putting on an excellent fight. He drew the short straw in terms of the referee and reacted like a champion.
This is a fight that needs a rematch. Both fighters expressed interest in moving up to 147. Could this rematch take place at 147 or should this be for the 140 belts? Regardless, this will be another great fight that all will choose to watch.
In all fairness Khan did push. He was warned several times. I would have been OK with one point being deducted, not two. I hope the ref does good with the money he used to bet on Peterson pay for refereeing school.
The ref should’ve taken points off for holding petersons head down but it worked either way.
The only bad part of this fight was the officiating. That being said even though it was controversial it was good to see Lamont Peterson have his moment. It’s also clear a good inside fighter with great power may prove to be Khan’s weak spot. I say overall I’d call this a draw but Khan made the mistake of fighting a man in his hometown. This is why I say I’d like Khan if he knew when to shut his mouth. He wanted to fight in D.C. so he cant bitch about the decision
This was a good fight it also exactly why boxing fans get pissed off. Those point deductions were not right and that ref sucked, he couldnt even get out of his own way. I would say one third of boxing is affected by bullshit judging & ref work. It looks to me like ppl need to get trained better.
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