Amir Khan will get his wish of a quick rematch with Lamont Peterson, the man who took his belt in December during a controversy tinged bout on Peterson's home turf.
Lamont Peterson agreed to Khan vs. Peterson II as announced on Thursday by Golden Boy Promotions and it was a big win for Amir Khan and his promoter.
Khan lost a split decision that seemed to hinge on ring ref Joe Cooper deducting two points, one in the final round. The ringside judges' scored the bout 113-112, 113-112 for Peterson and 115-110 for Khan. The two points taken away from Amir Khan were the difference.
Read: Amir Khan "pushed" into defeat by Lamont Peterson.
Amir Khan complained of Cooper's seeming reluctance to act quickly to break up clinches, resulting in Khan literally taking matters into his own hands. He repeatedly shoved Peterson away from him to get himself space to work, resulting in Cooper's penalizing him.
Then there was a lot of noise coming from Golden Boy about that issue as well as the mystery of the missing official scorecard that Golden Boy believes was filled out after the fight once it turned up. It wasn't the best moment for the Washington D.C.'s boxing commission.
After petitions to the sanctioning bodies, the IBF agreed that a rematch was in order but the WBA refused. Golden Boy worked on the Peterson camp at the same time, offering a generous package for the rematch that included a 50/50 split of worldwide revenue.
Just to spice it all up, Boxingscene.com reported that Bob Arum was lobbying Peterson to align himself with Top Rank for a two fight package that would start with facing Juan Manuel Marquez and then perhaps the holy grail of fights with Manny Pacquiao.
A lesser man than Peterson would have taken the Top Rank deal, except that the Golden Boy opportunity was concrete, transparent and immediate. Calling it the best decision for his man's future, Lamont's manager/trainer said his fighter made the call.
Khan vs. Peterson II will take place on May 19 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, a neutral site. HBO will carry the fight and another featured bout was announced to top the under card. Lucas Matthysse vs. Humberto Soto in another junior welterweight class.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
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