Courtesy HBO Sports, here's the full fight from December 10 between Amir Khan and Lamont Peterson, which was one of their best fights of the year, and one of the most controversial across boxing for 2011.
I still score this fight for Khan by a hair every time I watch it, same score: 113-112 for Khan. I never change a round.
But the reason I want to see a rematch of this fight is I think that Lamont Peterson made a few tactical errors he can correct. My initial thought was a rematch greatly favors Khan, who can fight better, while Peterson seemed to do his absolute best. But there are little things Peterson can do -- attack more here and there, notably, because Khan responded badly to it pretty much all the time -- for a better performance.
And can Khan really fight any better? His flaws are very real, and they're very big, and they hold him back from that next level, the elite level. Is this who he is, hard-wired? Freddie Roach is a great trainer, but some things about fighters you cannot fix. Take even Freddie and Manny Pacquiao. No matter how much discipline Roach instills, or how much better a boxer he has made Manny Pacquiao, he'll never change that animal instinct in Manny to square up and brawl when he gets tagged. Can he change Khan's amateur habits? Can he get him to become a more consistent fighter? Can he tinker enough with the mentality to get it to stick?
I don't know. But that's why I want to see this one again. To find out, on both sides.