By John F. McKenna (McJack)
Former WBA/IBF light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KO’s) has filed an official complaint over the refereeing of last Saturday nights controversial loss to new WBA/IBF light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO’s).
With the bruises he incurred in his fight with Peterson still visible Amir said that he was confident of obtaining a rematch the Washington, D.C. native. In an interview with Reuters, Khan said the following:
“We are trying to get the results overturned, if not then a rematch is going to happen. Even if the result gets turned over I would still give Lamont Peterson a deserved rematch.
“We’ll do it somewhere neutral, not in D.C. or the U.K. Somewhere like Vegas, where it will be neutral judging and a neutral referee.
“I don’t think there will be other big fights there, definitely not, after seeing what happened to me.
“People are going to think, why should I go there because of the refereeing and judging is not according to our profession.”
Referee Joe Cooper deducted two points in the contest, one in the 7th round for pushing and another in the 12th round for hitting on the break. The fight took place in the challenger’s home town.
The point deductions were the deciding factor in the fight. One judge gave the fight to Khan by a 114-111 margin, while the other two judges had it 113-112 in Peterson’s favor.
Khan insists that his complaints about the officiating are not sour grapes. He acknowledged that he made mistakes against Peterson. In any future fight with Lamont he said he will concentrate on movement and staying off the ropes, something his trainer Freddie Roach had warned him about going into the fight Saturday night.
Khan’s former promoter Frank Warren has warned Khan that he needs to work on his defense. Amir also acknowledged that the loss to Peterson will delay his planned move up to welterweight but he put a positive spin on it by saying he will gain further experience staying at light welterweight for one more fight.
The loss to Peterson has caused many boxing pundits to take another look at Khan who had been considered to be on the fast track towards pugilistic super stardom.
