In a shocking upset, Lamont Peterson, a much as a 9-1 shortender on some books, scored a split decision over Amir Khan after 12 grueling rounds at the Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Final scores, effected by referee Joe Cooper, were 113-112, 113-112 and a completely ludicrous 110-115. Cooper deducted two points from Khan for shoving and, in doing so, created the latest in a series of weekly boxing scandals.
It should be pointed out clearly?without any of the idiotic bawling that makes following boxing a chore?that Khan held excessively, pushed Peterson down by the head repeatedly, stopped the action with several half nelsons, and, yes, pushed or shoved Peterson over 40 times. In addition, Khan even grabbed Peterson around the waist and, at one point, his thighs. Peterson committed a few infractions of his own, but nothing compared to the Greco-Roman maneuvers Khan tried to empretzel him with all night.
It took two rounds for Peterson, 140, to get comfortable against Khan, who looked sharp early, even scoring a phantom knockdown in the first. As soon as Peterson started pressuring Khan and winning exchanges in close, however, Khan began his shoving routine, drawing his first warning from Cooper in the third round, when Peterson landed hard shots?particularly to the body?from bell to bell. Peterson started the fourth with a pair of jabs and a straight right, and Khan, 139, began shoving again, doing so, it seems, in direct proportion to Peterson?s success.
In the following round, for example, Khan dominated with clean combination punching, neat footwork, and an accurate jab. He did not shove Peterson once, an indication of his comfort level. In the sixth, however, Peterson began bullyragging him again, and out came a couple of blatant shoves. Cooper can clearly be heard telling Khan, ?Last warning: stop pushing.? But Khan, Bolton, Lancashire, United Kingdom, repeated this inelegant move several times in the seventh, and Cooper deducted a point?rightly so if you care about a clean fight; an outrage if you are interested only in peddling your prejudices.
What is really strange about the whole situation is that despite having a point deducted, Khan raised his shoving tactics to a new level, pushing Peterson away repeatedly in the 9th, 11th, and 12th rounds. Cooper barked ?Stop pushing!? twice in the 11th, but Khan was oblivious and turned the final round into a mosh pit as well, throwing in a headlock for good measure. Of course, it is the curious timing of the second penalty that stands out?the last round is not exactly the best time to deduct points in a close fight.
