Peterson lived parentless with his brother on the streets of Washington D.C. from age 9 to 14. Oddsmakers had installed him as 7-to-1 underdog against Khan, the well-groomed Freddie Roach protégé and Olympic silver medalist from England who'd spent the past two years cleaning out the 140-pound cupboard and climbing the pound-for-pound charts.
Then on Saturday, Peterson fought with rare tenacity and made the most of his second shot at the title, feeding off the near-sellout crowd of 8,647 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and nicking a split decision. After 12 back-and-forth rounds, judges George Hill and Valerie Dorsett scored it 113-112 to Peterson, while Nelson Vasquez tipped Khan at 115-110. (SI.com had it 113-112 to Khan.)
From homeless to world champion. What a story.
"Things were always rough for me," the 27-year-old Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KOs) said afterward, a nod to his extraordinary origins. "Things have never come easy. I was prepared for a backyard fight and that's what it was."
Roll credits, right? Alas boxing, as life, seldom fits cleanly into made-for-Hollywood narratives.
Khan (26-2, 18 KOs) was deducted two points by referee Joe Cooper, for shoving in the seventh round and hitting off the break in the 12th. Roach, Khan's chief second, said both came without prior warnings. If the first point isn't taken, Khan retains the title on a draw. If both are ignored, the 25-year-old Brit wins a unanimous decision.
"He did a terrible job," Roach said. "The referee shouldn't decide fights, he's not a judge. He made himself a judge tonight."
Said a despondent-looking Khan at a circus-like press conference: "It was like I was against two people in there."
It was said to have been Khan's idea to fight in Washington after he was invited by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to a White House dinner for prominent Muslim athletes in connection with the 10th anniversity of 9/11. Surely he regrets it now.
"I knew it would be tough in his hometown," said Khan, whose purse totaled $1.1 million before his (ample) cut of the U.K. TV receipts, "but this is why boxing hasn't been in D.C. for 20 years: you get a decision like this."
The controversy sullied what is certainly now among the frontrunners for the best fight of the year.
Khan sprinted out of the gate at the opening bell, landing a one-two combination before Peterson could blink. It was a meaner, more proactive Khan than previous outings -- hitting off the break, using his elbows more than usual. You saw the familiar hand speed and well-schooled combinations that observers have grown accustomed to, but everything uncoiled with a little more spite and vigor. And it ended with Khan dumping Peterson to the canvas twice near the end of the round. Both appeared to be clean knockdowns from ringside, though the referee deemed the first a slip. ("The first knockdown was clearer than the second one," Roach later recalled in disgust, "and he called the second one.")
In the second, Khan picked up right where left off, battering Peterson backward with a six-punch combination. But something was different. Khan was the faster, bigger, cleaner puncher, but Peterson was finding range with his jab and returning fire on the inside.
Peterson found his sea legs in the third and came alive, connecting with flurries to the body and head as chants of "D.C.! D.C.!" began to sweep across the hometown crowd, which buoyed the atmosphere at the first major fight in the nation's capital since Mike Tyson's ignominious farewell to Kevin McBride in 2005 -- and the first championship bout since Riddick Bowe (in attendance Saturday night) defended the heavyweight title against Jesse Ferguson in 1993. By the end of the third, it seemed Peterson had Khan in serious trouble.
The final scorecards read 113-112 twice for Peterson and 115-110 for Khan, whereas my score was 113-112 for Khan. It's a fight that could have gone either way -- and kind of did, on the scorecards -- but the two points referee Joe Cooper took from Khan in the 7th and 12th for shoving/elbowing Peterson were the difference, mathematically, on the scorecards. Those point deductions will probably be debated hotly for several days, but I wasn't crazy about them. Both men were fouling a fair amount, Khan a good deal more than Peterson, but I didn't see anything that warranted deductions, and with this fight being on Peterson's home turf, naturally there are already questions.
Khan began the better, scoring a knockdown in the 1st round that wasn't, and not getting a knockdown call in that one I thought he deserved. He was faster and busier early, although Peterson started to work his way into things as early in the 2nd with his body attack. In the 3rd, though, Peterson finally forced his way inside and did major damage with his combinations under, around and through Khan's high guard. Peterson said after the fight that he switched tactics when he realized he couldn't outbox Khan. From there on out, it was a back and forth affair, with Khan hurting Peterson in the 9th but mostly shoeshining late, and Peterson suffocating Khan with outstanding pressure. Peterson and Khan simply couldn't get rid of the other, and both refused to take a punch for an answer, and as a result they made for ideal foils.
Khan comes away bitter about the refereeing: "It was like I was going up against two people in there," he told HBO's Larry Merchant. But he blamed himself somewhat for not doing enough in his opponent's neighborhood. "When you're in D.C. you have to win more convincingly."
This gives Peterson the win over a top-notch name that he didn't get against Timothy Bradley or Victor Ortiz, and vindicates his decision to turn down a Khan fight earlier to get better terms later. "As a person, I stand for something," he said. "I don't go for anything." Peterson stood tall Saturday night. And after this performance, now we'll notice his head above the crowd's.
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