Steve Bunce says point deductions were the reason for Amir Khan's loss to Lamont Peterson, even as he called Khan's infractions "a stupid schoolboy mistake."
Bob Arum said Julio Cesar Chavez could fight Brian Vera next, and eventually, Andre Ward.
Bunce: Khan made "a stupid schoolboy mistake" against Peterson
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In the wake of his split-decision, upset loss to Lamont Peterson's on Dec. 10 in Peterson's hometown of Washington, D.C., dethroned former IBF/WBA junior welterweight titleholder Amir Khan of England has taken some criticism from some of his countrymen. Khan (26-2, 18 knockouts) had a point taken in both the seventh and 12th rounds by Virginia's Joe Cooper for pushing Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KOs). When the fight ultimately went to the cards Khan lost, 113-112, on the cards of George Hill of New Jersey and Valerie Dorsett of North Carolina, and won, 115-110, on that of Nelson Vazquez of Puerto Rico. Click here for round-by-round live blog. Although British commentator Steve Bunce of BoxNation acknowledged that Khan lost as a result of the points being deducted, Bunce also implied that Khan's infractions were the result of inexperience, calling Khan's second penalty "a stupid schoolboy mistake." Khan and his promoter, Golden Boy Promotions, have cited poor officiating and scorecard descrepancies among the reasons they have appealed to the IBF and the WBA to overturn Peterson's victory or else to order an immediate rematch. Hearings are expected to be held on Jan. 18 and 19 for the WBA and IBF, respectively, in New York. In another video, former British cruiserweight titleholder Glenn McCrory called out Cooper for failing to penalize Peterson for leading with his head, even as he later called Khan to task for comments McCrory felt were derogatory toward the host city. "There was no sort of massive argument of any sort about robbery or anything like that. I thought Amir was a bit naive to go on about that," said McCrory. "You don't sort of insult the nation's capital. You don't sort of call them cheats. I thought he was wrong for doing that." In still a third video, United Kingdom champions and current Sky television network boxing analysts Steve Collins, Johnny Nelson and Barry McGuigan were more even handed in their appraisals of Khan.
IBF Championships Chairman, Lindsay Tucker, and IBF president Darryl Peoples initially chose not to order an immediate rematch after reviewing the three scorecards and a DVD of the fight in response to a formal protest against the officiating and the scorekeeping from Khan and Golden Boy Promotions. Photos by Naoki Fukuda Lem Satterfield can be reached at lemuel.satterfield@gmail.com |