When Lamont Peterson (29-1-1, 15KO’s) steps into the ring on Saturday night at the Convention Center in Washington, D.C to challenge England’s WBA/IBF light-welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-1, 18KO’s) he will do so in front of his own fans in his own city, but will hometown advantage be enough for him to do the unexpected and defeat Khan? The short answer is no, not likely.

Bernard Hopkins has this week been speaking about the benefit of boxing at home, and it is true that having an entire crowd in the corner during a fight can uplift a fighter when he needs it most, but the truth is, the crowd can only do so much. They can’t step into the ring and trade blows with Khan, they can’t lift Peterson up off the canvas when he needs to beat the count, but one thing they can, and often do, is influence the scoring judges at ringside.

“Like football, like basketball, like hockey, I think when you go into another man’s home town I believe that man gets an extra point before the fight even starts,” Hopkins said.

“Not officially, of course, it just to me seems more of a custom thing where when you go to a man’s home town, you have to recognise it is exactly that – his home town. “You’re in this guy’s dining room taking his milk. Taking his fan base. At the end of the day as the fighter going into that, if I’m Amir Khan then I’m giving Peterson two points before the weigh-in even.”

“Peterson is going to step up another level. That’s supposed to happen. So based on that, Amir Khan has to do twice or three times as much as Peterson has to do at home, where he already has a two-point lead before the bell rings.”

There’s no fighter with more experience and understanding of the sport than Hopkins, and his words make a lot of sense. He has been there and seen it all before, but for Peterson to challenge Khan on the cards the fight needs to be relatively close, and that’s where the problem for Peterson lies.

Amir Khan is all about speed. Every good thing he does is based on his handspeed, and Peterson, at least up to now in his career, doesn’t really compare. Unless a miracle has occurred since his last fight, a twelfth-round KO of Victor Manuel Cayo in July, then Peterson will be the slower of the two. There are very few fighters at or around Khan’s weight that can match him for handspeed, just ask supposed speed-merchant Zab Judah, but where Peterson may well have an advantage is in the physical strength department.

Peterson has the size and physical presence to bully Khan, and although by no means a devastating puncher can at least test Khan’s whiskers, which as we all know have been questioned before now. Although it seems highly unlikely he will outwork Khan it does only take one punch to change things, and he does possess more than enough quality to land shots, make no mistake. He is very confident in his own ability though.

“I see me being in control of the fight,” said Peterson. “Never getting out of control. I won’t say an easy win, but a clean victory.”

For his part Khan, who envisions facing Floyd Mayweather Jr. at welterweight next year, is equally confident and not shying away from saying so, and his newly elected Hall Of Fame trainer Freddie Roach says he is ready for anything Peterson brings.

“I’ve had boxers and bangers both [in to train with Khan],” Roach said. “I mean we’re here. If [Peterson] wants to bang with us, we’re ready for that. If he wants to try to box with us, we’re ready for that. We’re studying tapes of him, and we see where he likes to be and so forth. We’re not going to put ourselves in those positions. Amir is just going to be too fast for him in my book.”

Khan should indeed be too fast for him, and should he come out victorious it will undoubtably be another step up the food chain in the American market. Committed to making his name in the States, Khan obviously has high ambitions, but to his credit he has fought away from home in three of his last four fights and slowly but surely is silencing the doubters. One person who has no doubt about his standing in the sport is Khan himself.

“I’m doing [it] basically the way it should be done,” Khan said. “The best fighters should face the best fighters in the world and I’m doing that. I wanted to fight [Timothy] Bradley; he turned it down. We took on [Marcos] Maidana; we beat him. We took on Zab Judah, who also was another threat in that division, and we took him out. That’s the reason they’ve put me to number one in the world [at 140 pounds], because they call me the best fighter in that division because I’m one fighter who loves taking the risks and fighting the best out there.”

Hardly a subtle hint, and he would do well not to assume a win on Saturday night or get too ahead of himself, but in truth he looks too fast for Peterson, who yet again may find himself once again the bridesmaid in a fight Khan should dominate before going on to win on points or even stopping Peterson in the later rounds. As we all know though, with Khan’s supposed vulnerability anything could happen if Peterson lands flush.

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