SUMMARY
Ultra-gifted Amir Khan will try Saturday on HBO against Lamont Peterson
to put the finishing touches on a 2011 that could make him a Fighter of
the Year finalist. Khan already has wins over Paul McCloskey and Zab
Judah, good competition in the junior welterweight division to be sure,
but that beating the trio of McCloskey, Judah and Peterson is a Fighter
of the Year-worthy campaign says more about how weak the contenders for
the honor are in 2011. However he comes by it, the publicity
accompanying him winning that mythical crown would do wonders for Khan,
already a fighter who has proven to do excellent ratings on television
in the United States but yet to draw much of a crowd. It would be the
next logical step in the career of a fighter who emerged from the
Olympics with high expectations, who dashed those expectations with a
stunning upset knockout loss, and who rebuilt himself into a boxer whom
some (including myself) would give Floyd Mayweather, Jr. a stiffer test
than anyone at 147 lbs. or below.
Peterson? He's going to be
trying to get the win against a top-notch opponent that has been just
out of grasp so far. He battled Timothy Bradley about as hard as Bradley
had ever been battled, but came up short. He rallied late against
Victor Ortiz to win over the judges enough to secure a dubious draw. He
put himself in position for another shot at a big name with a drubbing
of Victor Cayo, a good fighter but not anyone in the class of Bradley,
Ortiz and certainly not Khan.
Even though Khan is a boxing
"cutie," he's not as shy about attacking as some of them, and Peterson
is kind of like a more rudimentary but more aggressive Mayweather. That
means this fight stacks up as a boxing-friendly, action-friendly
two-in-one. And Khan's trainer Freddie Roach has been pretty vocal about
worrying about what Peterson brings to the table that past Khan
opponents haven't. It's the kind of fight where the favorite is the
favorite for a good reason, and an upset would be highly surprising, but
it's also the kind of fight where you can see the underdog pulling it
off.
Khan oozes talent, is the problem for Peterson. Khan owns arguably
the fastest hands in the sport, and his size, footwork, defense and
amateur pedigree makes him hard to handle. His last opponent, Judah, had
basically convinced everyone he was "back" from a long stretch in the
boxing wilderness based on a trainer switch, new attitude and a couple
decent wins, but ultimately he wasn't. It was nonetheless impressive to
watch how utterly Khan dominated Judah, whose own handspeed was thought
to be potentially troubling to Khan. Nope. Khan was faster, smarter and
tougher. He works his jab and right hand and combinations and gets his
gloves back up quickly and controls range against opponents he usually
towers over far too well for most anyone, let alone the Judahs of the
world.
By way of flaws, the "Khan can't take a punch" line of
talk hasn't been heard for a while. It was last December, really, that
it last re-emerged, and even then it got was shoved back down a fair
amount. Khan got rocked badly by Marcos Maidana, one of the hardest
pound-for-pound punchers in the sport. But he stayed on his feet, and
Judah -- himself possessing of one-punch knockout power -- couldn't dent
Khan at all with what little connected. There also has been a bit of
inconsistency, though, like his shoddy performance against McCloskey,
and at age 25, you get the impression that he hasn't ironed out all the
kinks.
Peterson himself offers much to like. He is relatively
fast and hits relatively hard, but what stands out about him is that
he's a clever boxer. It's rare that you a see a tall, lanky fighter like
Peterson (he's 5'9" with a 74" reach, one inch shorter and three inches
longer than Khan, respectively; that size worries Roach) who's so
comfortable boxing from the outside and the inside. He's very good at
making adjustments based on what his opponent shows him; he tends to get
better as fights go on, and if you throw him a different look, you can
only temporarily disrupt his rhythm with it. Bradley beat him by
knocking him down early and out-hustling him, but Peterson ended the
fight better than he started it. Ortiz knocked Peterson down early, too,
but Peterson eventually figured him out and started countering him and
timing him at will. Cayo did all right early, but Peterson stopped him
in the end.
Peterson will come in with a lower work rate than
Khan, less speed and worse defense. (Peterson has a tendency to drop his
hands from time to time.) He'll have to get the work rate thing figured
out and sharpen up the defense, especially since the punches are going
to be coming at a faster velocity than he's ever encountered. But he's
got a better combination of size and smarts than Khan has faced thus
far, and combined with his physical qualities and own show of toughness
in getting up from the Bradley and Ortiz knockdowns, that makes him a
formidable foe for anyone in the division, including Khan, it's #1 man
according to Ring Magazine's ratings. Peterson himself ranks #6.
It's
quite likely that Khan gets hit more in this fight than he did against
McCloskey and Judah, because Peterson is capable of figuring out how to
do it even if he doesn't right away. But it's less likely that Peterson
does it early and often enough to make a difference. It's a bold move on
Khan's part that he's fighting in Peterson's backyard of Washington,
D.C., because hometown fighters tend to get the benefit of the doubt on
the scorecards. But I see this as more of a clear, nine rounds to three
style victory that would be hard for a judge to swing Peterson's way.
Khan should win by decision, but Peterson won't make it easy on him.
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