Amir Khan Vs Lamont Peterson
10th December 2011
WBA/IBF Light Welterweight Title
Convention Center, Washington DC

Following on from the MyBoxingCoach scorecard on the Pacquiao/Marquez fight in November, this article is my interpretation of what was quite a controversial match between Amir ‘King’ Khan and Lamont ‘Havoc’ Peterson for the light welterweight championship. I have maintained a focus on highlighting the key strategic and tactical factors in play from the fighters, and obviously given the controversy around the performance of the referee Joseph Cooper I cannot avoid bringing his performance into the assessment.

It has to be said I did enjoy this fight. There was a clear distinction between the approaches of both fighters, in many ways the classic ‘boxer/fighter’ match up, even though Peterson brought to the ring some quite accomplished skills and achievements so maybe calling him the ‘fighter’ is a little unfair. In case you want to watch the fight (either before or after checking out the analysis), I’ve included a link to the wonderful SoSoBoxing.com boxing video site. This link is at the end of the article.

As with all articles on the MyBoxingCoach site, my contribution is intended as only the starting point. I know that within this community we have some real discerning, bright, smart boxing people who tend to offer such nuggets of enlightenment that it makes my efforts worthwhile. So, please do let me have your thoughts as to the fight or any related matter in the comments section below.

Round 1

A very interesting start with Khan roughing Peterson up right from the opening bell, looking to stamp his authority early. Peterson is firing back but is doing so with single,power-focused shots. The footwork from both is subtle, with each looking for that ideal range (see Range Finding in Boxing). We can see early also that Peterson is very much looking to land booming body shots, but Khan seems to be the brighter with his effective feinting providing a good basis for phased attacks. The first controversy of the night hits us, or more appropriately doesn’t hit Peterson. The home town fighter visits the floor twice, with the second being classed as a knock down by referee Cooper. This seemed arbitrary to me; neither was a knock down! However, I’ve opted to accept the referee’s count and scored the knock down.
K 10 – P 8

Round 2

Khan works well from the outset of round 2. He uses combinations and seems to accept the fact that Peterson is going to march forward. However, and this is the first area of concern for me, Khan appears to be in such a rush to throw fast flurries that his feet appear unsteady toward the end of the exchanges. Peterson is boxing in what is, it has to be said, a one-dimensional way; plodding forward with single shots. But, and this is something that we observed during the Khan versus Maidana fight, Peterson has no fear at all of the Khan punch power. His objective is to get up close, it doesn’t matter how, he just wants to get inside with Khan. Why? Because Khan’s continuing flaw is his utter inability to fight on the inside. The round is closer than the first, but Khan edges it for me.
K 10 – P 9

Round 3

Khan continues his fine movement, both foot and head. There’s no denying the young man’s boxing ability, he’s smart, fast and fluid. His use of the right uppercut has obviously been identified as a key tool to use against Peterson, he lands an absolute gem in this round. But, Peterson becomes more aggressive, hammering away to the body and switching to the head. A much better round for Peterson, so much so that he nicks it for me.
K 9 – P 10

Round 4

The 4th round seemed to me to be a story of inaccuracy from both fighters; many of Khan’s shots sailing over Peterson’s head whilst Lamont’s smashed into Khan’s guarding arms. The work of note was again Peterson’s infighting and Khan’s use of the slip outside with the long range right hook. The round was just too close for me to call anything other than even.
K 10 – P 10

Round 5

I really felt in this round that Peterson lacked any kind of original ideas on breaking Khan down. His plodding forward seems tailor-made for Khan’s shoot-and-scoot tactics. He stalks Khan but Khan is landing shots fairly constantly. None of Khan’s shots are likely to cause any significant damage to Peterson, but he is scoring.
K 10 – P 9

Round 6

This is the first round in which the referee makes any observable, visible reference to Khan pushing with both arms. The pattern of the fight continues, Peterson looking to target Khan’s body whilst Amir moves well and picks his shots. Peterson lands a really good right uppercut, and this is the first serious punch landed from either guy for quite some time. Even though Peterson landed this shot, I still think that Khan’s work rate is higher and he is landing. Khan edges another close round.
K 10 – P 9

Round 7

Peterson is more driven this round. He begins to rough Khan up in a big way and at one point pretty much sprints after the Brit. Peterson’s short range hooks and uppercuts work really well, and Khan’s key weakness is that he provides no threat at this range. If you aren’t skilled-up enough to fight at close range in the pro ranks then you have to have the kind of knock-out power that will deter fighters from rushing on (think Thomas Hearns). Unfortunately for Khan, he just doesn’t bring that kind of punch power to the ring. Khan actually talks to the referee when he is up close. Should a boxer’s infighting tactics involve whining to the third man?

Cue the next controversy. Referee Cooper deducts a point from Khan for pushing. This for me was wrong, but not for the reason you might think. Khan was pushing with both arms, from as early as the second round. This is a foul. But, the referee for me did not issue clear warnings to Khan that he would deduct a point. I’m not talking about the referee talking to the fighters as they box, I’m talking about him stopping the action at least twice and telling the offender that he is committing a foul and should stop, or else. Think Mills Lane. No ambiguity, no doubt, continued fouling will result in a deducted point. Fighters sacrifice too much to not deserve clear communication from the referee.
K 8 – P 10

Round 8

As I’ve said before, Khan opponents see the benefit from closing him down and bringing it up close. Peterson basically works Khan over in this round, rushing in without too much finesse but then using good quality short range punching to great effect. Amir looks for favours from the referee rather than thinking about tightening up the guard and hammering back with safe, short punches before moving back to long range. I refuse to believe that a fighter of Khan’s undoubted ability, with the team he has around him, cannot devise simple tactics for being up close.
K 9 – P 10

Round 9

Really good round for Khan this one. His continued use of the right uppercut catches the eye, a shot that has paid dividends all night long. Whilst Khan struggles with Peterson’s approach up close, he simply dominates at long range and even looks like he has Peterson hurt quite bad at one point. Really solid round for Khan.
K 10 – P 9

Round 10

Peterson’s simple tactic of rushing down on Khan returns, although at this point in the fight he is visibly tiring with each shot he throws. Khan for me is just far too busy for Peterson at long range. His rather disconcerting chatter to the referee continues. Surely his energy would be better spent looking to bring together the basic ingredients of a solid infighting strategy (you know, defensive blocks and short range hooks and uppercuts). Khan’s conditioning is very, very impressive by the way, really outstanding.
K 10 – P 9

Round 11

Deep into the championship rounds now, and both are tiring, Peterson more noticeably than Khan. Up to now Peterson has simply been a little rough-house with his head (this is professional fighting after all) but in this round he seems to be more dangerous, likely a result of his increasing fatigue levels. In fact, in this round Khan’s whining to the referee has an impact as Mr Cooper orders Lamont to keep his head up. The pattern remains the same; Peterson chases (forlornly for me) and Khan peppers him with scoring shots rather than shots that are likely to test the chin of his adversary in any serious way. Khan’s higher work rate wins out for me again here.
K 10 – P 9

Round 12

A rather uninspiring closing round, with Khan again edging the encounter. However, referee Cooper again deducts a point from Khan, and again the protocol of his actions are inappropriate. Some may say “But the referee talks to both fighters as the fight progresses, isn’t this enough?” Well, as usual my sound was down, but that is irrelevant. Think about the situation. You have a highly trained opponent in front of you looking to knock you out and take from you everything you have worked for. Is it the responsibility of the boxer now to hear every little word mentioned in the ring? With all due respect, the referee could question Khan’s manhood in this way and the fighter could very well miss it.

The boxer is entitled to be told in no uncertain terms that he or she will be losing a point if they continue to foul. A timeout could be called to emphasize the seriousness of the situation.

Anyhow, Khan edged a largely forgettable round (in terms of actual action) and the deducted point makes it an even round.
K 10 – P 10

So, the MyBoxingCoach scorecard is as follows (and by the way, no one is standing over me now ‘advising’ me how to record these figures):

Amir Khan - 116
Lamont Peterson – 112

For me Khan should still be world champion, and by a quite convincing margin. Even with the deducted points I had Khan winning by a 4 rounds. But, boxing judging is largely subjective and is therefore open to often wild interpretation. Would I be upset if I was in the Khan camp? Absolutely I would. Lamont Peterson is very fortunate to be a world champion. The standard of the referee’s performance left a lot to be desired, it was pretty dire. It’s likely that a rematch will take place, and this is a just way forward.

But, and on a final note, I remain absolutely staggered that Amir Khan remains fundamentally weak on the inside. I think the team at the Wild Card gym need to spend some serious time working on his close-range tactics. Khan is in my opinion one of the best movers/shoot-and-scoot specialists in world boxing, but maintaining those tactics for 12 hard rounds of fighting is quite simply the objective of a deluded mind. Team Khan need to earn their corn and get their fighter prepared for the rough-house world of professional, close-range fighting. If not, then his potential will remain unfulfilled.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Tagged as: amir khan, freddie roach, Lamont Peterson