By JM Siasat: In the morning of December 11, 2011 boxing fans witnessed a boxing upset when Brian Viloria won by 8th round TKO against the Ring’s #9 ranked pound for pound fighter in Giovani Segura at the Ynares Sports Arena Pasig City Philippines. As the fight happens there was another story being told on the other side of the world, thousands of miles away in Washington DC was the Amir Khan-Lamont Peterson bout.
Amir Khan was a favourite going to the fight and was expected to beat a live underdog in Lamont Peterson.
The speed of Amir Khan was a factor and with it he scored a knockdown in the first round. As the fight went on Peterson seem to have Khan figured as he took the battle on the inside forcing the champion to circle around the ring for the rest of the fight.
It was one of those fights that are tough to score as the bout featured a guy who throws and lands more and the other guy landing clean and telling blows.
Just like many boxing fans, I had Khan winning more rounds. But there was another factor, it was referee Joseph Cooper.
As the challenger took the fight to the champion, Peterson would lean and mix his punches making the champion push. Rounds seven and twelve was a huge turning point as the referee took a point from Amir Khan for the pushes.
Khan was unhappy with the point deduction and was very happy with another one in round twelve so as his promoter Oscar De La Hoya being seen on the background. Khan would then feel the urgency and tries hard to finish strong in round twelve.
After twelve rounds of action Peterson was announced as the new WBA world light welterweight champion with two judges scoring 113-112 for Peterson and 115-110 for Khan.
Soon after the fight Amir Khan would say on his facebook “CHEATED NOT DEFEATED”.
Before anything else, just like many of the fans, the point deductions especially in round twelve I felt was unnecessary. Unlike elbowing, butting, kicking etc the pushes were not intended to injure the opposing fighter. As a matter of fact, there are boxers out there who push their opponent during a fight but fans would never see them get a point deducted. By the end of the day it is a referee’s discretion if he will call the pushes an offense, something he could just let go of.
But unlike what Amir Khan claims, it was far from a cheat. He was not cheated. You simply don’t call a close fight(thanks to the point deductions) not going your way a cheat. Some say, to beat the champ, fight him like you’re going to take the belt. Exactly what Peterson did.
What Amir Khan need to realize is, pushing was, and will always be an illegal move as written in the rules of boxing.
I also see boxing fans say referee Joseph Cooper didn’t know what he was doing, something that doesn’t sound right. If anything, Joseph Cooper knows the rules too much and goes by the book too much. He made sure the rules of boxing were intact during the whole fight by not allowing any illegal moves be performed to the point where it affected the fight result itself.
Khan announced on his facebook today that Amir Khan VS Lamont Peterson II is confirmed for March 31, 2012 and I’m picking him to win the rematch. For now, Khan should stop thinking he got cheated because if someone did, it was him.
for comments, suggestions and feedbacks you can email jm1boxing@ymail.com