Pressure defines sport. The ability to perform under pressure is what separates great sportsmen from the very talented.
When the pressure was turned up in Washington, Amir Khan failed to deliver. He came out all guns blazing; in the first round all the talk of stepping up to challenge to the likes of Mayweather seemed justified. However, when Lamont Peterson began to swarm him with body punches and crunching rights Khan looked devoid of ideas. Peterson refused to allow Khan to breathe, pinning him against the ropes and suffocating him with his brawling style. All the controversy about the referee and the deducted points pales in comparison to the manner of Peterson’s performance. He made what should of been a routine voluntary defence for Khan a nightmarish 12 rounds.
As good as the challenger was, and as controversial as the referee’s decision will prove, Khan was the architect of his own downfall. The build up to the fight was dominated by talk of Khan’s “impending” step up in weight, it looked premature at the time and it looks dreadfully misjudged in the aftermath of Sunday. For all his talk of not underestimating Peterson the amount of time Khan spent talking up a 2012 bout with Mayweather suggested differently. Peterson might have been an outsider but with only one defeat to his name and resilience, borne out of a childhood of poverty, meant he never looked being a total pushover for the British fighter. Despite this Khan seemingly saw the bout as a chance to promote a non-existent fight, one which now looks a distant dream. Yet after a first round that showed all of his good qualities Khan began to back off and allow the challenger space and time to work the champ over. Peterson’s body shots and willingness to continue advancing into punches unnerved Khan, seemingly convincing him that to win he’d have to avoid the gutsy Washingtonian.
The ring seemed to shrink as Khan was regularly hunted down with predatory instinct by Peterson, who grew in menace as the fight progressed. The truth was that Khan was at his best when he was bobbing in and out of Peterson’s blows and replying with sharp combinations. He was hardly overwhelmed by the challenger but in the USA they reward aggressive boxing, Khan’s performance was largely timid after the third round playing into his opponents hands. An unforgivable sin in boxing.
The seventh round was perhaps the most depressing for fans of the Olympic silver medallist. After a sixth round where Khan had delivered a classy boxing display, clearly taking the points, he ceded control back to Peterson immediately in the seventh. The challenger pinned him against the ropes and Khan let him unload, refusing to cover for a reason only he can know. It allowed Peterson to regain momentum, composure and piled the pressure back onto Khan. In the championship rounds Khan was unable to claw back the deficit; in fact he made the task even more difficult by losing two points needlessly. The docked points will certainly prove controversial, Khan’s camp has already pressed for an investigation, but like the defeat they were of his own creation.
A rematch next year looks likely and will be a defining moment in Khans career; he’s shown he has the character to recover from this defeat. When he suffered a devastating KO at the hands of Breidis Prescott it seemed a genuine threat that he might never fulfil his potential. The fact losing world titles is now seen as such a setback is a testimony to how far Khan has come since that chastising night. However, beat Peterson in the return and the land of milk and honey is still within grasp. Lose and Khan’s talk of being the pound for pound champ will be another false prophecy in a sport full of them. A whole career resting on a single fight is serious pressure, let’s all hope Khan measures up this time.