The Lamont Peterson vs. Amir Khan fight this past Saturday was a revelation. It proved that there has never been such thing as a winning formula, there is no one variable that ensures the victory one hungry fighter pitted against another hungry fighter. Seems like since Manny was taking down giants one after the other, the formula was 1) get that Hall-of-Famer coach, 2) get a strength and conditioning coach with a degree 3) train for speed and endurance, 4) have a backstory that makes people want to be in your posse. Lamont proved in 12 rounds that

The Peterson win made me love the guy even more. Before the fight, I texted my homie, “I hope this fight is worth it, last time I saw Peterson he was super boring.” Peterson made me eat my words round after round. Like straight out of a Rocky movie, Lamont pressed on, driven by concentrated will, drilling Amir with body shots that I felt from my seat. Props to Amir for holding up the entire fight, and I pity his luck with the terrible referee, but Lamont’s win was not undeserved.

I hope future fights will look at Lamont in these rounds and see something timeless, like Buster Douglas breaking Iron Mike’s winning streak in the only way it would ever matter to Mike, with good old ass-whoopin. Perterson’s pressure was other-wordly, it was a beautiful  thing to see a true demonstration of in-fighting. Peterson did not have to talk smack, his style said, “There’s nowhere to run, Amir. Roach can’t help you, Ariza can’t help you, it’s just you and me.” I hope all our leading boxers can keep that in mind as they step into the ring in their next big fights.