"I've got the punching power to hurt him. I mean, in the first round, we put him down twice, and then in the 9th I think it was, we hurt him again, so I know if we develop and we sit down on our shots a little bit more, we can hurt this guy and maybe knock him out...I know next time I fight him, I'll be on my A game. There's gonna be no mistakes. I'm gonna be 100% focused on him. He just brought the hunger back in my body again where I know not to make any mistakes. You know, things can go wrong in boxing and I'm not going to let them happen again. If I know I can hurt this guy and get him out of there, I'm not going to keep him in there for long. I'm going to go in there and do my job, because at the end of the day, we don't get paid for overtime. If I can knock him out in the first round, we're going to finish him," stated former jr. welterweight champion Amir Khan, who gave us an update from training camp as he continues to prepare for his highly-anticipate rematch with current champion Lamont Peterson. Check out what else he had to say about the fight, Peterson, and much more.
BT: Amir, what's going on man? How's training going?
AK: Training's going well, man; training's going well. We're sparring with guys who are heavy and strong, you know; they're pushing us because we know Peterson is a strong guy and comes forward, so we're sparring with guys who are a lot bigger than me so we can deal with them guys. It's going really well. I mean, I feel much sharper and much stronger, and we're not making mistakes. I watched the video of the last fight and, I mean, we lost the last fight and we go back to the drawing board and we see what mistakes we made just so we can improve. Because when you win, you never look at the bad points, so we looked at all the bad points now and we know exactly what to do in this next one. I honestly can say we win this next fight convincingly and we walk right straight through him. I mean, I still believe we won the first fight, but, you know, it's always harder when you fight someone in his backyard, but it's all about just winning this so comfortably next time that there's going to be no doubt.
BT: Alex said he was trying to break you out there. How rough has the training been?
AK: You know, overall, I like the training. I mean, training is always hard, but when training in that altitude, it's twice as hard. When you do 8 rounds at high altitude, it's like doing 12 rounds because the air is thinner and it's a lot tougher. When you do like 4 rounds, it's like doing 8 rounds. If you were at sea level, it's like doubling it. We've been doing a lot of swimming, we've been doing a lot of strength work, because we know we need a lot of strength in this fight, and we need to work on the power, which we've not worked on for a long time. So I think for this fight, we're going to be working on our power and strength. If Lamont Peterson wants to stand there and fight, we will exchange with him. I don't think he punches harder than me. But you know, I think he will just come in with his head, walking forward trying to breaking me down that way, but we'll have answers for whatever he brings. You know, overall, training camp is always hard; it's never easy, and that's the way we like it. It's not meant to be easy. It's not meant to be comfortable. We're not meant to be happy in training camp. It's gonna be boring, it's gonna be hard, it's going to be tough at times, but that's the way us fighters are. That's what makes us elite fighters, because we know how to work in the comfortable zone.
BT: You mentioned that Peterson was a little bit stronger than you guys expected. Are you looking to actually beef up a little bit for the rematch or is it just a matter of getting used to dealing with the physicality of a bigger guy?
AK: I think it's all about just getting used to being in with people who are going to be big and strong. You know, we've been sparring with guys at 160 and 165 just to feel their body weight and their strength so we know what to expect really. But also, you know, I actually came into the fight at 147 last time, so I think, you know, maybe a couple more pounds heavier will make a big difference on my side.
BT: Who are you sparring with out there?
AK: We've got [Max] Maxwell from England, and we've got a kid from America called Francisco [Santana]. You know, they're both strong. They got good knockout percentages. They can bang, they can move, they can, you know, put the weight behind them and they do push me in sparring. I think that's what I need, someone to push me in sparring. They're jr. middleweights; they've even fought up to middleweight, so they are big guys, and if I can hurt them, then you know, I'm sure we'll be okay in the fight.
BT: Obviously there was a lot of leather being thrown in the last fight, but I don't remember you ever looking like you were hurt or stunned by any of Peterson's shots. Do you feel like you've tasted the best shot he has to offer?
AK: I mean, not once were we hurt in the fight. He was throwing a lot of shots. When he did catch me on the ropes and stuff, I knew exactly where I was and I saw everything coming. I think instead of being too brave in the fight now, we'll go back to being how we was, you know, nice and slick. I mean, we don't need to get hit in there. If you don't get hit, then I'm sure he's not going to be scoring any points, so we're going to be slick in this fight and we'll have answers for everything he throws back. The thing is, I know now he can't hurt me. He's not got the punching power to knock me out, so I really think that's one thing on my side, and I know I've got the punching power to hurt him. I mean, in the first round, we put him down twice, and then in the 9th I think it was, we hurt him again, so I know if we develop and we sit down on our shots a little bit more, we can hurt this guy and maybe knock him out.
BT: When you put him on the canvas in the first round, could you tell if he was seriously hurt or if it was just a flash knockdown? Do you think you might have let him off the hook?
AK: You know, we could've finished him off, but I think I took my foot off the pedal to be honest with you. I did take the foot off the pedal and I think I kind of let him back in the game. I mean, you know, we shouldn't have done that. I did hurt him and I should've put the pressure on, put him on his back foot, and used my strength and aggression, but once we let him settle down and we let him get back in the game, I think that's when his confidence kind of built up. But he fought me at probably 80% and I know he fought at 100%. I know next time I fight him, I'll be on my A game. There's gonna be no mistakes. I'm gonna be 100% focused on him. He just brought the hunger back in my body again where I know not to make any mistakes. You know, things can go wrong in boxing and I'm not going to let them happen again. If I know I can hurt this guy and get him out of there, I'm not going to keep him in there for long. I'm going to go in there and do my job, because at the end of the day, we don't get paid for overtime. If I can knock him out in the first round, we're going to finish him, yeah.
BT: You mentioned that he brought the hunger back. After that big unification fight with Bradley never happened, do you think maybe you were getting complacent with fighting some of the guys you had been fighting?
AK: I think maybe...we know we trained hard for the fight. Maybe I just didn't push myself a little bit harder. I mean, I did train very hard. I was in great condition. I know what things I did wrong and maybe I cheated myself on a few things, so we're not going to do them again. That's why I know there is room for improvement and there was mistakes made in that last camp that we're not going to make again. I know if it's a good camp, a healthy camp, and a happy camp, then I'm sure I'll walk through the fight. You know, we can either make this next fight easy or hard if I just stick to my skills. I still don't think I used my skills in that last fight. It was mainly just strength and taking shots and giving shots back. I mean, it was good to watch, but it wasn't Amir Khan using his brain and fighting with his skills. This next fight, I'm going to go back to what we do best, using skills and power and everything else. You know, Lamont Peterson can think he took me out of that game, he made me get into a fight and made me not use my tactics, but I chose not to use them myself. I know what mistakes I made. I don't think there's any fighter who could do that to me, but I chose to do the wrong tactics in that fight and it's something I'm not going to do again.
BT: Looking back at the fight, you can kind of tell that you made the decision to trade more than you need to.
AK: I think we got too brave. I think the best thing we do now is we go back to what we do best really. I mean, look at the likes of Mayweather out there, Pacquiao out there, they always stick to what they know best and that's where they get their success from, so my success is being slick and being skillful and doing my best. You know, I kind of fought him at his own game and still think I beat him at his own game, but I think this time, we're going to do what we do best.
BT: It's funny you brought that up because Peterson did an interview with us earlier this week and he mentioned that he thought it would be the same type of fight because he didn't think you could fight any other way. I believe the exact quote was that you were "as advertised".
AK: He can't change. I mean, that's Lamont Peterson for you. That's the way he fights and I think he'll never ever change. That's the best ever performance he put on, so for him to do another one like that, I can't see him doing that because I still think it took a lot out of him, the last fight, and we did take a lot out of him with the punishment he took in our last fight. He will never be the same fighter again. But, you know, who knows? I mean, we're going to go in there thinking this Lamont Peterson is going to be the best, the strongest, and at his best. We're gonna go in there and do what we do best. He can think what he wants about me, you know, that they're not going to be ready or we're going to be one-dimensional, whatever he says, but he'll be in for a shock on May 19th. End of the day, I think he should just worry about beating me instead of thinking about things I'm going to wrong.
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