Photo credits: Hoganphotos/Golden Boy Promotions
It has been nearly eight years since the DC metro area has played host to a major world championship boxing match. And while one can catch the occasional fists thrown during a Washington Capitals hockey game, there is still nothing like watching two fighters going head-to-head in a ring.
On December10, boxing finally returns to DC, as Unified Super Lightweight World Champion Amir “King” Khan will go up against IBF challenger and local favorite Lamont “Havoc” Peterson in a 12-round unified championship fight at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
The fight, dubbed the “Capital Showdown,” will be televised live on HBO and is coming to the DC area courtesy of Golden Boy Promotions and Khan Promotions, sponsored by Cerveza Tecata, AT&T and DeWalt Tools.
“We are very 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,” Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, told HBO.
“This is going to be a great fight and a fantastic way to end the 2011 championship boxing season,” Schaefer added.
And while the boxers have different agendas for the fight, one thing that they can both agree on is you won’t want to miss it. “Every minute of this fight is going to be exciting and people are going to love it,” Khan exclaimed in a phone interview with On Tap.
Khan is one of the most popular boxers in the United Kingdom today. He is currently ranked as the best fighter in the 140-pound Light Welterweight boxing division and won a silver medal for England at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The 24-year old British boxer of Pakistani descent started his professional career in 2005, winning all but one of his first 20 fights. The one loss came at the hands of Breidis Prescott in 2008, but Khan has been on an eight-win streak ever since.
In March 2009, Khan defeated future Mexican Hall of Fame boxer Marco Antonio Barrera and shortly after earned the WBA Super Lightweight World Title in a decision victory over Andriy Kotelnik. During 2010, Khan went on to defeat American Paulie Malignaggi at Madison Square Garden and then Argentinean Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas, keeping a strong hold of his championship title.
A fifth round knockout over former World Champion Zab Judah in July 2011 earned Khan the IBF crown. Now, the accomplished fighter sits at a 26-1 record and says he’s ready to move up to the 147-pound division after his fight with Peterson.
“The people I want to fight in my division now don’t want to fight me,” Khan said, adding that that he was looking for new goals and challenges. Timothy Bradley, the current number two fighter in Khan’s division, reportedly refused to fight Khan. “There is no one left to challenge in this division,” Khan added.
Moving up to the 147-pound division would give Khan some pretty big name fighters to face, such as Floyd Mayweather, but Khan says he’s ready for the move. “I’ve proved I’m the best in this division by beating the best and I can be the best in the next division,” he said.
But Lamont Peterson is also out to prove himself in his fight against Khan; particularly that he is on equal footing with the British fighter. “Forget what critics or anyone else says. At the end of the day it can be 30-to-1 odds, but it doesn’t mean he’s winning,” Peterson said of Khan.
In the begining, Peterson’s odds didn’t look good. By the age of ten, Peterson and his brother were homeless on the streets of DC, with a father in prison and a mother dealing with personal issues. It wasn’t until Peterson was 17 that his luck would turn. Boxing Coach Barry Hunter saw him in a street fight and suggested the teenager come work out at a nearby gym. It was there that Peterson was able to not only seek refuge from the streets, but also to craft his talent for fighting.
“Boxing is a rough sport and it takes a lot of dedication, sacrifice and hard work,” Peterson said. “When I have to take a moment and sit back in the ring or while I’m training, growing up the way that I did helps me get past those times,” he explained.
During his amateur career, Peterson was the 2001 National Golden Gloves Lightweight Champion and then the National Champion in 2003. After turning professional in 2004, Peterson would go on to win 29 fights, with one draw and one loss.
He won the WBO Interim Junior Welterweight World Title in April 2009 with a technical knockout over Willy Blain, but soon after would lose his only match to a decision from undefeated Timothy Bradley. Peterson bounced back this summer, with an impressive showing against Welterweight World Champion Victor Ortiz in a 10-round draw.
Peterson says that if he had the opportunity to fight the same boxers that Khan had, that he would be undefeated. “People look at his two world titles and think that I’m the underdog in this…We took different paths to get where we were for different reasons,” Peterson said.
“At the end of the day, Khan and I both have one loss. My loss came from the guy that is supposed to be the best in the division and his loss was a first round knockout from a guy that can barely fight,” Peterson added.
Khan was adamant about his opponent’s strengths in the ring, noting that Peterson was a “strong and controlled fighter” with the ability to give a lot of hooks and shots. “I have two titles that are going to be on the line and he has a chance to fight for a world title and his record speaks for itself,” Khan said.
As for Khan, Peterson credits the British fighter’s career success, but says he is ready to take the champion’s title.
“I’m sure Khan will train hard to defend his titles, so I will train harder to take them. Winning a world title in my home town is a dream come true,” Peterson said in an HBO interview. As for training, Peterson says it is pretty much the same routine as always, but that he and his trainers have a few things up their sleeve “strategy wise” for dealing with Khan.
This fight is also a personal one for Peterson, who says he feels he has to protect his DC home turf. “He’s coming here…I can’t lose, cause he can’t come beat me on my ground. It’s not going to happen,” he said.
But Peterson is also the first to admit that it won’t just be his crowd present to support him, noting that the British are big boxing fans and could very well travel to see Khan in DC. “They are willing to go a long distance to see a big fight, so the crowd will likely be 50/50,” Peterson said, adding that he will be looking to get the hometown crowd involved in the fight early to “amp him up.”
Khan says that he is excited to come to the DC area. “DC is a different place. It hasn’t seen a boxing show like this in a long time, so I’m going to bring it to them,” he said.
At press time, predictions from various boxing analysts and sporting websites seemed to be favoring Khan as the winner in a decision. Website proboxing-fans.com is picking Khan to win in a unanimous decision, noting that “Peterson will hang in there and he is definitely world-class, but Khan just does everything at least a little better than Peterson.”
Website badlefthook.com, though, says Amir Khan should not be looking past Lamont Peterson just yet: “Khan will be a big favorite and should be, but Peterson is no pushover. He is determined and will be fighting in front of his hometown fans.”
Khan’s promoter says that he has no doubt the fighter will be more than ready for this challenge. “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.
But Peterson says he is ready to prove everyone wrong. “Whether I’m fighting someone that everyone knows or doesn’t know, I’ve always got to prove that I’m the best and most skilled one in the ring. And I’m going to do that with this fight,” he said.
Tickets for the fight range from $25 – $300 and are available for purchase through Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000 or online at www.ticketmaster.com. For more information on the fight and the boxers you can visit www.goldenboypromotions.com and www.amirkhanworld.com.
