Amir Khan vs. Lamont Peterson is Likely:
Golden Boy’s CEO, Richard Schaefer, has left British fight fans distinctly underwhelmed with his recent announcement that Lamont Peterson is the favorite to fight WBA champion Amir Khan. After the real thriller waged between Khan and Marcos Maidana, there were hopes that Khan could build upon the momentum with a name that stirred more excitement in the breast of the common boxing fan than Peterson, so I think we can all be forgiven for the collective Meh uttered soon after the announcement.
No disrespect intended to Peterson, but he has next-to-no recognition in the UK. Most boxing fans here only became familiar with him – or his name at least – when he stepped up to face Timothy Bradley for the WBO light-welterweight title – a fight in which he showed a lot of heart but was soundly beaten. The only time I remember him featuring on our TV was on the undercard of Khan-Maidana against Victor Ortiz.
So despite his admirable qualities – tough, awkward and a relentless body puncher – we’re not excited. Not least because he will be a heavy underdog, and should he lose his second world title shot, it’s likely that Peterson will merely serve as some form of high-functioning gate-keeper to the 140lb division.
Is this the best Team Khan and Golden Boy can do for his homecoming at the MEN Arena in Manchester?
At 24 years of age, it is perfectly understandable that Khan cannot go through war-after-war like in his last fight against Maidana. He has a lot of time on his hands unlike, say, Carl Froch, who has to make every bout count at this stage of his career. It’s also a given that Khan has one eye on a title unification with the winner of Timothy Bradley Vs. Devon Alexander. With that in mind, he surely doesn’t want a monstrous Maidana-like right to derail that potential fight, but there are still more compelling fights out there that could have been made.
Why not Zab Judah? There was every opportunity to get him on board before he agreed to face Kaizer Mabuza for the IBF light welterweight title. He is a former undisputed world champion, a recognized name and a big mouth who knows how to sell a fight. Judah is like Floyd Mayweather – many fans only watch in the hope he will get beaten up. He may be a little shop worn and certainly looked less than stellar in his last fight against Lucas Matthysse, but we would take Judah over Peterson any day of the week.
If Judah couldn’t be brought to the table there were even options at domestic level. Kell Brook – ranked No.1 by the WBO – has been mouthing off about Khan in the press, so it would have been as good a time as any to call his bluff. Every boxing fan in the UK wants to know if Brook is as good as he likes to tell us and the fact that he is mandatory to Manny Pacquiao’s welterweight belt should hold some sway with stateside audiences.
Golden Boy could have even signed up Matthew Hatton before negotiations with Saul Alvarez began. He is not a bad boxer in his own right but the very fact he is Ricky’s brother makes it massive – what if Khan opened a can of whoop-ass on Matthew? Maybe Ricky would come back to avenge his little brother and have one last hurrah in the spotlight while he’s at it. A complete fairy tale scenario but we can dream…
We can dream.
Isn’t that that at least half the fun in being a boxing fan? We dream about those legendary fights that captured our imagination. We dream about the potential match-ups that usually never materialize. We dream about hall-of-famers from different eras facing off. We dream about the next big fight with the anticipation building as the date edges closer.
Yeah, we definitely dream, but with every ounce of respect coming to Peterson, this is not a fight that will enter my subconscious any time soon.
