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Khan proved against Peterson how far away he is from being an elite fighter. Forget whether you think he won or not and forget whether you think the referee robbed him, just consider the real problems in his game:
1. Inability to fight on the inside - Maidana showed how poor Khan is with his back to the ropes and Peterson took it a stage further. All Khan does is look to tie up his opponent and push down. He makes no attempt to mix it up and shows no head or upper body movement.
2. Lack of ring generalship - Considering his weakness on the inside, you'd think Khan would look to dictate the fight by keeping it in the centre of the ring, but he showed a complete inability to do so. Instead of picking his shots and mixing between head and body, Khan just flurried to the head as usual, a pattern that Peterson largely picked up on. This made it easier for Peterson to bully him into a corner or up against the ropes. Khan also showed a lack of footwork and lateral movement, being cornered far too easily.
3. One-dimensional style with no adaptation - Great fighters adjust to what happens in the ring, finding a way to win or a way to turn the fight their way. Khan looked like a lost child plugging away at what he learned parrot fashion, showing little to no ring intelligence. Peterson was picking off his flurries to the head and was pinning him against the ropes too easily, so what did Khan do? Continue as before. Khan didn't pick up on the fact that his body shots could have slowed Peterson down (as Roach mentioned in his corner) and he didn't mix up his rhythm to become less predictable.
All said and done, I'm still a fan as Khan is always value for money and I still believe he can become a great fighter if he truly learns from his mistakes. I actually had Khan winning before the final point deduction, but Khan gave up so much and Peterson fought so well that I didn't mind the decision that much - although I did think Cooper did a bad job as referee. Anyway, thoughts on what Khan needs to learn? Can he learn? Discuss.
1. Inability to fight on the inside - Maidana showed how poor Khan is with his back to the ropes and Peterson took it a stage further. All Khan does is look to tie up his opponent and push down. He makes no attempt to mix it up and shows no head or upper body movement.
2. Lack of ring generalship - Considering his weakness on the inside, you'd think Khan would look to dictate the fight by keeping it in the centre of the ring, but he showed a complete inability to do so. Instead of picking his shots and mixing between head and body, Khan just flurried to the head as usual, a pattern that Peterson largely picked up on. This made it easier for Peterson to bully him into a corner or up against the ropes. Khan also showed a lack of footwork and lateral movement, being cornered far too easily.
3. One-dimensional style with no adaptation - Great fighters adjust to what happens in the ring, finding a way to win or a way to turn the fight their way. Khan looked like a lost child plugging away at what he learned parrot fashion, showing little to no ring intelligence. Peterson was picking off his flurries to the head and was pinning him against the ropes too easily, so what did Khan do? Continue as before. Khan didn't pick up on the fact that his body shots could have slowed Peterson down (as Roach mentioned in his corner) and he didn't mix up his rhythm to become less predictable.
All said and done, I'm still a fan as Khan is always value for money and I still believe he can become a great fighter if he truly learns from his mistakes. I actually had Khan winning before the final point deduction, but Khan gave up so much and Peterson fought so well that I didn't mind the decision that much - although I did think Cooper did a bad job as referee. Anyway, thoughts on what Khan needs to learn? Can he learn? Discuss.
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