AW - What are your thoughts looking back on that fight? It seemed that after two rounds, you realised that you weren’t going to outbox him so decided to roll your sleeves up, so to speak, and declare war on him. Would this be fair?
LP – Yeah, when I was trying to box him, there were a few awkward moments in the fight where I tripped up over the ref. I tripped up over Khan. I just thought the fight would probably continue to go that way if I didn’t change something. So we worked on another strategy other than just boxing him so I tried it and it was working, so from that point on, it was a game plan that was going to work.
AW - Did you think going into the Khan fight that he had a weakness on his inside game?
LP – Oh yeah, the whole plan was to get him to fight on the inside and the first strategy was to box and maybe win a few rounds to make him desperate and make him fight me on the inside and the other way was just to force him to do it. We knew forcing him to fight we would take more punches than we’d like doing it, so we knew eventually we’d wear him down and win the fight that way. Winning rounds by boxing and forcing him to slug it out with me, it would have been an easier choice but the first few rounds didn’t go the way I expected to.
AW - Khan was deducted two points in your fight; some people believe this was harsh while others are of the opinion that it was the correct judgment. You’ve remained quiet on the subject. How do you see it?
LP – My thoughts on the whole point deduction, you know, never have I ever seen another fight- and I watch boxing all the time, all the old fights- never have I seen someone push that way. I understand pushing is allowed at times. Say If I was going to Khan and I was holding Khan and the referee isn’t breaking us up, normally a fighter will push to keep a guy off from holding because holding is illegal. Pushing is illegal but to me, the difference in this fight was he pushed me, which is illegal. Everyone knows this. He’s using an illegal move to stop me fighting him, from punching him. That’s not fair. You know a lot of times in heavyweight bouts, they hold a lot but the referee might not say anything. But what people have to keep in mind, people get points get taken away for holding and that only happens when, say, if a fighter gets hurt and he wants to survive and he keeps holding, that’s when the points get taken from the person holding or doing any illegal move to help him get an advantage to help him from getting hurt and get knocked down. That’s why points get taken away. Khan clearly pushed me to keep me away from him to keep me from punching him; I believe the points were justified. The fact that he pushed me so much- look at the force he was pushing me with- how hard he was pushing, actually like he was bench-pressing me. That’s not fair; that’s not boxing. Whoever wants to debate about it or anything like that, you’re entitled to your opinion but really look at it. Don’t be biased that you’re a Khan fan or even that you’re a Peterson fan. Just really look at it. You’ll be able to see the difference between the truth and a myth to yourself. Those points deductions were justified.
AW - The fight took place in your hometown. It was the first big fight in Washington D.C. since Riddick Bowe fought Jesse Ferguson in 1993. What did that mean to you and how much did that inspire you?
LP – I knew it meant a lot to not only to me but my city, which is Washington D.C. Like you said, it’s been a long time since a big fight was actually held in D.C. Of course I would like more big fights to come to D.C. so I knew it was important for me to go out and do a good job to make sure more big fights come to D.C. so I prepared going into the fight mentally and physically to be the best I could. I knew it was important to get a crowd in there to show people do love boxing in this area and I think all of that happened so I’m looking forward to more fights in D.C.
AW - How have things changed for you since that win? What have you done with your time since beating Khan?
LP - Things haven’t changed much for me as far as things I do. I still continue to train hard, have the same focus I had going into that fight for my next fight. I still do the same things. I still live in the same place, drive the same car; everything is the same. It’s just the recognition of everyone else in my city and the boxing world noticing me, calling me “Champ” now. It’s pretty cool for everybody to recognise and understand all the hard work we’ve been going through for the last 17 years has finally paid off, people recognising me. It’s a good feeling.
AW - You also received the key to the city. Can you tell us about that honour?
LP - I had the key to D.C. I never thought I would get an award like that. The belts and all the other things that come along with boxing, you dream of those things and you have those things in your head. But to receive the key to the city was something I never dreamed of, something I never really thought of. It was a great honour for me, probably even one I appreciate the most.
AW - Though it’s still early, what are your thoughts on what you’d like to do next?
LP – Right now, the goal is for any boxer is to become number one in, of course, their weight class- which I am not yet- and to become number one pound-for-pound and I’m not mentioned in the top 10 yet. Any fight that can take me to that point, those are the fights I want.
AW – If we can, touch on some of the ones that have been mentioned then. How about Manny Pacquiao?
LP – That’s the fight I want more than any [other] because as far as things I talked about, being number one in my weight and number one pound-for-pound. He will give me the biggest leap to those goals, so of course that’s the challenge I look forward to the most.
AW – How about the only man to beat you so far, Timothy Bradley?
LP – He would be second because beating Timothy Bradley would definitely put me number one in my weight class and I can avenge my only loss as a professional. He would definitely go in at the number two slot of people I want to fight.
AW – What about a rematch with Amir Khan?
LP – A Khan rematch would land at number three because that would be really for the fans. I don’t think there’s nothing I have to prove to him that I’m the better fighter. I really truly believe I’m the better fighter. I don’t have to do this or shut his mouth up or try to knock him out. People say whatever they want to say; it doesn’t bother me. I know the fans enjoyed the fight. It was a really good fight and I would love that fight for the fans. They would like to see the rematch and I’m willing to give them rematch.
AW – Are there any other fighters in particular that you have on your radar?
LP – Yeah, they have mentioned it once or twice before but Brandon Rios moving up to 140 pounds. It’s nothing about avenging my brother’s loss. I just think it would be a fun fight. It is more so for me than anything because the guys I’ve been fighting lately have been moving around and me having to chase them down but I know with Brandon, it would be totally the opposite. He’ll be there willing to fight and those are the types of fights I like. Just a fun fight for me, a fight to enjoy for me. So other than those three, I’d love to fight Brandon Rios.
AW - You were offered to fight Khan last April in Manchester (Khan ultimately fought Paul McCloskey) for something in the region of $250,000 but turned that down to fight a difficult title eliminator with Victor Cayo for a mere $10,000. That was a calculated risk that worked out as you won and got the Khan fight in December. Can you tell us the thought process behind this?
LP - After I fought Victor Ortiz in December 2010 [on the Amir Khan-V-Marcos Maidana undercard], I knew the calls would probably come in. It was a really good fight; it was a really good show on HBO. I didn’t get the victory but for me and Victor, it was good performances. I knew the calls would come in and the first one was Amir Khan, April 19, fighting in the U.K. When Barry [Hunter, Peterson’s manager/trainer] told me about it, I was excited about it. I was like, “OK, this is my second chance at the title. It’s a fight I know I can win, regardless of where it at. I was ready to go. At that point, I was going to fight Amir Khan but Barry started telling me the details of the contract maybe a week later and things started coming up like where the fight was going to be. I really didn’t have a problem with that but of course, if we can get it somewhere else, that would be better but I was OK with going to England and then they started talking of how much money it was going to be and at that time, it was the most I’d made in a professional boxing match so I was like OK with that. Then they started talking about the split of the money. He was getting to the split I was getting and I never worry about what other people are making but at the end of the day, I’m looking at it like it’s going to be close to 20,000 in there. You got HBO backing the fight, Sky [Sports] backing the fight. And to me, I train hard and I lay my life on the line when I get in the ring just like Amir does and I just believe overall I deserved a better split than was the case. But eventually, we negotiated a better purse. It went from $200,000 to $300,000 and, of course, you’re negotiating trying to make terms better for you and, eventually, I agreed on the $300,000 which was low and I feel disrespected. I didn’t feel right doing it but I did it. I didn’t sign anything but I was telling Barry I’m OK with it. Then when we finally say OK to the agreement on the last day or they were just going to move on. They start talking about a rematch clause where I have to rematch Khan for pretty much the same amount as I received for the first fight and I’m coming in as champion. How bad’s that?! At that point, I was like, “Nah.” Golden Boy wanted options if I beat Khan. We didn’t like those options; we wanted to stay a free agent. We wanted to see what happens and see what we could do ourselves. Just taking the fight was signing ourselves over to Golden Boy ‘cause we planned to win the fight. Once we won the fight, they’d want options and that was something we didn’t want, another reason we didn’t take the first option. We had another option; the other option isn’t for any money. We knew we were taking a risk and we were kind of crossing our fingers on certain things too. So we went with the other option; the option was to fight an eliminator for the IBF against Victor Cayo. I knew it was a fight I could win. Barry was just like, “This is the way it’s going to be,” and we went with it. We end up winning the fight, being mandatory to Khan. We still had to cross our fingers ‘cause there was no guarantee he would fight us. He knew eventually we were going to fight for the title but we wanted it to be Khan. We were so happy he took the fight in my hometown. I wasn’t looking for any advantage of fighting in my hometown but I knew I would train much harder and fight that much harder because it was in my hometown. He was that disrespectful, overlooking me that much, fighting me in my hometown. I was happy with the decision he made. I knew it benefited me turning the first fight down. I was happy about that and knew we made the right choice. The patience waiting from not taking the first fight had paid off and we got a much better deal the second time around.
AW - You had a very hard upbringing on the mean streets of Washington where you had to live with your brother. Can you go into detail how old you were, when you went on to the streets, how long you were there and how you got through it?
LP – As far as I remember, I had a cousin who boxed. I was four, five years old. He always wore boxing gloves and I kinda liked boxing but I wanted to be a ninja. At that time on TV, Evander Holyfield and Pernell Whitaker were fighting in separate bouts. That really made me want to be a boxer. We had a big family; we had a nice-sized house that my father owned. Things were going pretty good. Tough times will always come with 10 brothers and sisters in the house but were OK. We had a house; we had room. Things started to get tough at around five. The lights went out first, water next. Next thing you know, I’m sitting on the side of the street and I didn’t understand what was going on. A few weeks later, as soon as they kicked us out the house, we stayed in the station wagon for two or three days until they admitted us to a shelter home. We stayed in the shelter for about a year. Everyone lived the same; we were pretty poor. Everything we got was really a handout, so a lot of our friends got together and we came up with ways to make money. A lot of times, we were washing windows, pick-pocketing people, stealing bikes and selling them, dancing for money, just asking for money. A lot of times we gave the money to our families. At the age of six, seven years old, everything was cool. It was fun because I pretty much did what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it, no rules, no curfews, no nothing. I just did what I wanted to. By the time I was eight, that’s when we got kicked out of the shelter. That’s when things got really rough. We were living house to house, aunt’s house, cousin’s house, friend’s house. Every night, we would find a car unlocked that we snuck into or our grandfather’s basement which was in a terrible condition. We’d sleep down there, Greyhound station. Sometimes we’d just walk all night until the sun came up and go to school and eat breakfast, then go on our way. That lasted for about a year. A lot of times, we were out there, no coat, no socks and it’s wintertime. That was probably the roughest time in my life. Then we went into foster care; my family split up. At that time, my two sisters went with my older sister. Some went to jail. Some started their own families. Me, Anthony and another brother, we went into foster care. At that time, I still wanted to box but the foster care wouldn’t allow me to box. We stayed in foster care for two years. Just getting used to normal life with rules and curfews and all that like an eight-year-old, nine-year-old is supposed to; it was difficult. It wasn’t easy to accept those things when I wasn’t used to it. Even down to taking a shower, I wasn’t used to it. So you know it was a good two years for us; we were eating properly, going to school the way we were supposed to and all the other things. I was 10 years old when we got out of foster care. My father got out of jail and we moved back with him. He owned the house but he was never there, it was just my mother. It was awkward. I didn’t know him; we clashed a lot but that’s when I started boxing. When I got out of foster care, that’s when I met Barry and from there on, life was still rough. Barry didn’t know what was going on in our house. Pretty much, they gave my father a big house in D.C. but he was never there. It was just us six, seven kids and our whole neighbourhood was staying there. Barry didn’t really start to learn about our living conditions until he started dropping us home. He asked us a few questions and we told him. He said, “Hold up.” From that point, Barry told us things, teaching us things about life, pretty much letting us be kids at that point. Because up until that point, we weren’t kids. We would act like kids. You know, our whole mentality was like an adult. Barry made sure we went to school, did good in school and, at the same time, teaching us boxing. Once he saw me and Anthony were good at boxing and serious about boxing, he invested all his time in boxing into training us. A lot of people don’t know this but Barry sacrificed a lot of things to get us to this point, rough times at home with his family, putting so much time in me and Anthony, the whole boxing gym, that he wasn’t spending time with his own kids, with his wife and almost cost him his family. Things were rough for him as well as us. We stayed focused on training and getting ready for all these different tournaments. Everything went well and we kept going forward in boxing. Things kept getting better and eventually, we turned pro.
AW - Fans know your backstory but they still don’t know much about you as a person. Can you tell us about your life away from boxing and the things you enjoy doing in your down time?
LP - I’ve always been the one who gave back whether it’s my time, money, talking to someone, talking to kids. That’s just me. Anything I can do to help someone, I’m normally all for it, especially if that person deserves it. I’m a laidback person. I stay in the house a lot. I don’t go out much. I don’t party much. I spend a whole lot of time with my daughter, doing whatever she wants to do. She’s three years old, so the things she wants to do is pretty much watch cartoons, Scooby-Doo and things like that. I’m watching a lot of Scooby-Doo these days! I love Basketball, NBA, NFL. I’m into football and basketball heavy. I love the Chiefs in football and the Spurs in basketball. I love playing games, challenging games, where you have to use your mind, any type of mind game, I’m normally for it. Any number games, I’m normally playing it. I’m really good with numbers.
AW - Is that something you may pursue when after boxing?
LP - Yes, when I retire, I’ll probably be earlier than the normal person retires from a job or a career. That’s definitely something I would like to get into because I’ll be young, 33, 34, when I do retire and I’ll have plenty time on my hands to do other things I would like and that would be one of them.
AW - You were in Atlantic City to see the final of the “Super Six.” You and Andre Ward go back a long way. Can you tell us about the history you two share?
LP - Yeah, it was a good feeling to see Andre win the tournament. Going into the tournament, I knew a lot of people weren’t picking him to win but I’ve known Andre for 15, 16 years and I’ve never seen him lose a fight, not even close. So it’s still hard for me to believe anyone can beat him. I knew going into the tournament, he’d win the tournament and just seeing him win that night, it was a really good feeling for me to see him win. Out of anyone I ever met, I know he deserves all the things he’s getting and will get in the future. I was actually roommates with Andre in Reno, Nevada. We were fighting in a dual against France and me and him had the two toughest fights. He was fighting the bronze medalist at the 2000 Olympics and I was fighting the 2003 World Champion, an outstanding boxer, Willy Blain. We both went out there and took care of business. The time I spent with [Ward], him being my roommate was really cool. I learned a lot from him. He’s a little younger than me but he’s really into his religion heavy and he taught me a few things about the Bible and stuff and I just sat and listened to him. He’s a really good person.
AW - In the space of a week, the two of you broke a few British hearts…
LP - Yeah, it was a rough month for the Brits but I’m pretty sure both of those fighters are great fighters and will come back, win more titles and more fights and get things back on track.
AW – Finally, do you have a message for your fans?
LP - Just thanks for the support before the fight and after the fight; all the stuff that’s going on and been said, I know my true fans still support me. I just appreciate that. Hopefully, I’ll be in the ring soon. Hopefully, April, May, I’m back in the ring putting on a good performance. I hope they like the next fight.
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