The Washington D.C. press conference for the December 10th Amir Khan vs. Lamont Peterson bout was held this afternoon at the W hotel. Both fighters were in attendance in front of a packed, standing-room only crowd, with dozens of media members and plenty of fans as well. Right here, take a look at our exclusive videos of the Khan-Peterson press conference, a huge photo gallery from the event, and some notes and quotes from all of the fighters and their teams.
Amir Khan Talks – Video
Lamont Peterson Talks – Video
Khan-Peterson Pictures from DC Presser
Notes & Quotes
“I’m looking forward to returning to the United States to face a worthy challenger like Lamont Peterson,” said Khan. “I always said that I wanted to be active and a true World Champion and I will prove it again on December 10. I know Lamont is a strong contender but it doesn’t matter that I’m fighting him in his backyard, I’m coming in as the champion and will leave as the champion.”
“I’m very happy for my chance to fight for a world title again,” said Peterson. “I’m sure Khan will train hard to defend his titles, so I will train harder to take his titles. Winning a world title in my home town is a dream come true.”
“We are excited to bring this big night of boxing to our nation’s capital and to feature a young, powerful and hungry world champion like Amir Khan against a top-flight contender such as Lamont Peterson who will have his hometown fans cheering him on towards reaching his championship dreams,” said Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions. “This is going to be a great fight and a fantastic way to end the 2011 championship boxing season.”
“Amir has always been adamant that he wants to face the very best in his division and in Lamont Peterson, he is doing just that by taking on an extremely dangerous opponent in his own backyard,” said Asif Vali of Khan Promotions. “I have no doubt Amir will be more than ready for this challenge and will put on yet another glittering display for all of his fans.”
“Amir Khan is one of the most spectacular fighters in the world and we’re thrilled to see him return on World Championship Boxing,” said Kery Davis, HBO Sports Senior Vice President of Programming. “This showdown with Lamont Peterson in the nation’s capital will be an exciting night on the network. It’s a thrill for HBO to be back in Washington for the first time since 1993.”
This is the first time in 18 years that HBO will be televising a bout from Washington D.C. The last time they were in the nation’s capital, it was for a card that featured the first Roy Jones vs. Bernard Hopkins fight. Amazingly enough, Hopkins is of course in action on the network once again in just a few weeks.
Everyone including the HBO executives, the D.C. arena folks and the fighters were excited to be in Washington D.C. and involved in a big-time event in the area. It was apparently Khan’s idea to have the fight in Peterson’s hometown, as he enjoyed the city when he visited several weeks prior, and decided to pursue that option instead the more traditional Las Vegas route.
Richard Schaefer from Golden Boy was also pleased to announce that tickets to Khan-Peterson “The Capital Showdown” will be priced starting at just $25. So they hope to attract a huge crowd to the convention center and then keep the ball rolling with more big showcase cards in the Washington D.C. area.
Also in attendance was D.C. based heavyweight prospect Seth “Mayhem” Mitchell. Mitchell will be on the televised co-feature on HBO, and the HBO brass seems very high on him, and are touting him as the best young American heavyweight on his way up.
Both Khan and Peterson paid a lot of respect to one another, and both man is eager to get into training camp and get to work. Peterson said he’s lost before and doesn’t plan on doing it again, and he’s dreamed about being able to headline in Washington D.C., where he grew up watching the fights in the area with guys like Sharmba Mitchell and Mark Johnson. Meanwhile Khan is excited to get back into camp with Freddie Roach and Manny Pacquiao, and set to work defending his belts against a worthy challenger.
He joked that usually two nice guys weren’t in the same fight against one another, and so there wasn’t too much quotable material coming from them, as they each respected one another greatly. Indeed, the staredowns were more like close-up smile sessions.
Enjoy our exclusive Khan-Peterson videos and pictures above and keep on coming back to ProBoxing-Fans.com for more of the latest breaking boxing news coverage.
