We take pleasure in answering prominently the
communication below, expressing at the same time our immense gratification that
its faithful author is numbered among the friends of Maxboxing.com:
Dear Maxboxing—
I am 8 years old. Some of my
little friends say that Lamont Peterson has no chance against Amir Khan. Papa
says, “If you see it at Maxboxing, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, does
Lamont Peterson have a chance?
--Virginia
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have
been affected by the skepticism of a boxing media in a skeptical age. They do
not believe except what they see of the past. They think that nothing can be
accomplished in the ring, which is not comprehensible by their little minds.
All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this
great universe of ours, man is a mere underdog, a James Braddock against Max
Baer.
Yes, Virginia, Lamont Peterson has a chance this
Saturday. His chance exists as certainly as his heart and devotion exist, both
enabling him to rise from homelessness as a child to an accomplished fighter
and, more importantly, an accomplished person. Alas! How dreary would be the
world if Lamont Peterson didn’t have a chance? It would be as dreary as if
there were no gyms in the inner city, providing hope to the hopeless. There
would be no childlike dreams of becoming a world champion, no poetry, no
romance to make tolerable this existence.
Not believe Lamont Peterson has a chance?! You
might as well not believe in what he’s done to earn this title fight.
I have yet to see anybody in
the boxing press actually predict a Lamont Peterson victory over champion Amir
Khan tonight in Washington D.C. But don’t believe that in any way this fight is
a mismatch. Lamont Peterson is a live dog.
Since his lone defeat at the
hands of Breidis Prescott, Khan has risen to the top of the heap in the junior
welterweight division yet he is hardly unbeatable. Many believe that if not for
the intervention of referee Joe Cortez, Khan would have fallen to Marcos
Maidana in December of last year. This year, a lackluster technical decision
over Paul McCloskey and a knockout win over the aged Zab Judah hardly make Khan
a prohibitive favorite tonight.
Lamont Peterson will have to
fight the best fight of his life but it’s fair to say that with just a few
relatively minor changes in his game, he can win this fight. First and
foremost, Peterson cannot dig himself into a hole early on the scorecards. He
does not possess the kind of power to turn a fight around with just one punch
nor is it at all likely that Peterson can actually stop Khan. So if he is to
win, it will have to be on the scorecards and falling into a deep hole early
will spell doom against a fighter of Khan’s ability.
This is easier said than
done. Khan, with the exception of the Prescott loss, does start fast. He had
Maidana in big trouble early and dominated Judah early before closing the
curtain in the fifth. If Peterson gets off to the same sluggish start as he did
against Victor Ortiz, don’t expect Khan to allow him back into the fight as
Ortiz did.
Neither can Peterson go into
the defensive shell as he too often does. The kind of shell that serves only to
block punches and not set up effective counterpunches. The kind of shell that
makes it look like your opponent is scoring well even though the punches are
being blocked. The kind of shell that costs a fighter valuable rounds in a
close contest. Peterson went into this defensive posture far too often against
Victor Cayo and it will cost him dearly if he does the same against the world-class
Khan. Peterson must be looking for all opportunities to score against Khan and
not merely wait for them to be presented, as is the case against lesser
opponents.
Peterson knows he can’t fall
behind early, at the pre-fight presser Thursday he told Maxboxing, “I know
[Khan] slows down around the middle of the fight. If I keep it even until then,
I should win the fight.”
Both Peterson and trainer
Barry Hunter have displayed a quiet confidence this week, leading me to believe
that at least they believe they will
win this fight. No longer is it a big deal to just be on the big stage; this
time it’s all about winning. There’s no longer the awe of being in the bright
lights; now it’s just another big fight. They’ve been here before.
Peterson says, “It’s just
another fight.” But of course, we all know that it’s much more than that. This
is perhaps his best- and last- chance to bring home a world title and Hunter
knows it. And despite fighting in Peterson’s hometown of Washington D.C., it is
likely that Khan will have the larger and more boisterous following at the D.C.
Convention Center tonight.
I give Peterson a real
chance. If the fight is at all close after six or seven rounds, Peterson can
beat the 10-to-one odds against him and earn the decision. So if after just the
first three or four rounds, Peterson has not dug a hole for himself on the
scorecards, we could be in for a back-and-forth affair and a possible new
champion.
So yes, Virginia, Lamont
Peterson has a chance tonight. So I’ll be the first boxing writer to make the
prediction that Lamont Peterson will upset Amir Khan and become the junior
welterweight champion of the world.
[Editor’s
Note: Virginia never writes to me…dammit. I need to write more.]