I first met Lamont Peterson about a decade ago. He and his younger brother Anthony were pounding the crap out of each other in the furnace room of a school in Columbia Heights.

They had boxing gloves on. The Petersons were both teenagers at the time and the star pugs of the Headbangers, a fight club run by trainer Barry Hunter that worked out five nights a week at Lincoln Junior High.

There was nobody else in the club who could bang with either Peterson, so Hunter had the siblings, the youngest of 12 children in their family, spar with one another.

The whole scene in that damp, dark room was something to behold, and I’ve followed the Petersons and Hunter as they’ve gone on to very successful pro ring careers fighting mostly out of Memphis.

The old band’s still together. This afternoon, Lamont, now 27 and fighting for Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Productions, shared a dais with Anthony and Hunter at the W Hotel.

They were there to promote Lamont’s bout against Amir Khan for Khan’s IBF and WBA Super Lightweight championships.

The 12-round title fight is scheduled for December 10 at the Washington Convention Center.

Unlike the Headbangers’ workouts in the furnace room all those years ago, it’ll be televised by HBO.