By Michael Collins: Heavyweight contender and fellow Brit Dereck Chisora thinks former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KO’s) needs to shut up and stop complaining about his loss to Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO’s) in the media. Khan, 25, was beaten by Peterson by a 12 round split decision on December 10th by the scores of 115-110 for Khan, 113-112 and 113-112 for Peterson.
Chisora told thesun.co.uk “Loads of fighters get robbed but it’s how you come back – that’s the most important thing. So Amir needs to shut up, put his gloves on, train hard and then go and knock that guy out in less than four rounds. I know I’m in the most dodgy, corruptest [sic] in the whole world. So if the decision goes the wrong way, just take it and jog on.”
Khan hasn’t taken the loss very well at all, blaming the defeat on the judges, referee, points being taken away for him shoving Peterson, not being given credit for a second knockdown, Peterson not being deducted points for coming in with his head, and the presence of a mystery man who sat down with WBA supervisor Michael Welsh. Taken as a whole, Khan feels he’s got enough evidence to have his loss overturned and changed to a no contest.
Khan’s promotional company Golden Boy Promotions has filed an expensive appeal to the IBF and WBA to force Peterson to not only give Khan an immediate rematch, but also to have the titles taken away from Peterson and given back to Khan by having the result changed to a no contest. Having the title stripped or Peterson forced to give Khan a rematch seems like a foolish and needless thing to do, because Peterson has few options for a similar big money fight and all he needed was space to come back on his own to a rematch instead of being pressured constantly and discredited by Khan.
Having the fight result overturned doesn’t change how poorly Khan fought that night. He couldn’t handle the pressure from the light hitting Peterson on the inside and elected to foul by shoving and pulling down on Peterson’s neck all night long in place of any kind of inside skills. It’s like hitting someone low because you don’t have a clue on how to slow them down. Khan’s fouling eventually led to him losing two points for shoving from the referee.
To this day, Khan still can’t understand what he did was wrong by shoving Peterson repeatedly. Perhaps it’s for this reason Khan continued to shove Peterson even after he lost his first point from referee Joe Cooper. Khan showed a complete inability to adapt to feedback from the referee or in the fight in general. It’s like he had one way of fighting and was programmed to do nothing else. His trainer Freddie Roach seemed helpless in between rounds to help his flustered fighter.
Overall, Khan’s constant complaining has made him appear like a poor sport, someone who can’t accept when he’s fought poorly and has to push the blame elsewhere rather than owning it. It wasn’t the mystery man’s fault that Khan ran from Peterson and had to foul to cover up the fact that he couldn’t fight a lick on the inside.