LAMONT PETERSON W12 (split) AMIR KHAN

Lucky winner? Possibly — but while Lamont Peterson got the breaks in his upset win over Amir Khan on Saturday night in Washington DC he fought his heart out and put himself into a position to make the most of those breaks.
 
I had Khan winning the fight and I have never in many years covering this sport seen a boxer deducted points for pushing his opponent. Yet I have to say Khan had himself to blame for the loss of his 140-pound titles.
 
Referee Joseph Cooper had cautioned Khan for pushing and also for holding Peterson behind the neck. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Khan was heading towards having a point deducted. So when Khan shoved Peterson away from him in the seventh round it was no surprise that a point was taken.
 
Khan was in hostile territory in America’s capital. The DC crowd was against him, roaring whenever Peterson landed a noteworthy punch. Khan was jeered for back-pedalling. Having lost a point for the seventh-round shove, Khan was asking for trouble by repeating the offence. It was positively cruel that the referee should take another point from Khan in the final round but the British boxer should have known better than to push Peterson off him again. Without losing that second point, Khan would have got out of Dodge with a draw instead of losing on a one-point split decision.
 
As it was, I thought that Khan was a reasonably clear winner. Peterson landed the heavier blows but Khan triggered off the flashy bursts of punches that usually find favour with the judges. Veteran Puerto Rican judge Nelson Vazquez had Khan a wide winner but judges George Hill and Valerie Dorsett each went for Peterson by a single point. The 10^th and 11^th rounds were crucial. Hill and Dorsett had Peterson winning these rounds; Vazquez went with Khan. If Hill or Dorsett had given Khan the 10^th or 11^th, Khan would have got the split win and not Peterson.
 
Khan, to be fair, did get the benefit of the doubt when Peterson was given an eight count after being scrambled to the canvas in the first round. It wasn’t a clear knockdown but punches were thrown and Khan had a 10-8 round to start the fight. After a strong second round by Khan, things were looking good for him. Then Peterson came on strongly, crowding and hammering Khan in the third and fourth rounds and it was now evident that the British boxer was involved in a desperate battle that he could lose.
 
I was concerned at the way Khan took punches on the ropes, with Peterson slamming right-handers around the side of Khan’s guard. It was similar to the way Marcos Maidana pounded Khan when he got him on the ropes. Peterson’s body punches were hurting Khan and slowing him down. Khan made some stirring rallies but Peterson was steadfast. Khan raised his arms and tapped his chin to show that he could take Peterson’s blows — but he was taking too many of them and the rounds were too close for comfort.
 
Khan had a welt under the left eye and Peterson’s right eye was swelling shut from on top as the two boxers fought furiously in the home straight. I thought that Khan was finishing the fight like a champion in the 12^th but the deduction of the second point left him with a 9-9 round.
 
Peterson was relentless and courageous and he fought as he has never fought before in a fantastic effort and no one could begrudge him his triumph.
 
Khan is a talented, game fighter but it seems to me that when he gets hit he comes to a standstill and gets hit some more.
 
Peterson looked the stronger, tougher fighter and he made things rough for Khan, boring in with his head and landing body blows that didn’t always seem to be in the target area — but he was fighting a professionally robust type of fight and frankly Khan looked confused and flustered at times, wearing the look of a man who had expected a certain deference to be shown towards him and wasn’t mentally ready for the determined assault to which he was subjected.  Khan protested that he was the “cleaner fighter”, but clean fighting doesn’t score points — especially not in the unwelcoming fistic environs of Washington DC.
 
I watched the Peterson-Khan fight on tape — result unknown — after viewing Brian Viloria’s eighth-round win over Giovani Segura live on PPV from the Philippines.
 
Viloria was masterful. He took Segura to school in this flyweight title bout, countering solidly with the right hand and left hook. Segura, always easy to hit, was getting rocked in every round. The Mexican fighter’s only hope was to wear down Viloria with pressure, but the right side of Segura’s face was misshapen by the fourth round with a swelling reminiscent of the ones Fernando Vargas and Pawel Wolak suffered against Shane Mosley and Delvin Rodriguez respectively, and any hope of victory faded.
 
The few sportsbooks to offer odds made Segura a big favourite. I had Segura a much narrower favourite in Graham’s Odds in the fight preview. Segura, moving up from junior flyweight, was outclassed — he wasn’t meeting a smaller Ivan Calderon this time but a strong, skilled and hard-hitting 112-pounder, and Viloria was superior in every department.