- RSS
- Today's Paper
- Subscribe
- beta 2.1
Alerts
Boxing: Khan ready for rematch after shock defeat
Khan calls it "all a learning curve" and vowed "I will come back stronger."
Amir Khan believes the referee Joe Cooper was biased towards the hometown hero Lamont Peterson. PHOTO: AFP
WASHINGTON: Britain’s Amir Khan, saying he felt a rightful victory was stolen from him on Saturday, vowed to return stronger after a controversial majority decision defeat to American Lamont Peterson.
The 25-year-old English boxer said he was putting his plans to rise into the welterweight ranks on hold for one more fight in order to face Peterson in a rematch that he hopes will be staged in England.
Referee Joe Cooper took points from Khan in the seventh and 12th rounds for shoving hometown hero Peterson and that proved to be the margin of Khan’s loss before a sellout crowd of 8,647 at the Washington Convention Center.
One judge scored Khan a 115-110 winner while the other two handed Peterson the verdict by 113-112. All three judges scored the last round even, so Khan would have kept his titles by majority draw without the last deduction.
“I was up against the referee and Lamont,” Khan said. “The referee was a bit on his side. When you come to his home, you are two points down before the fight starts. I went to his hometown. I beat him. And I didn’t get it.
“A few of the (boxing) commissioners came to me and said that it was a disgusting decision. Even Lamont was shocked he won the fight.”
Khan called it “all a learning curve” and vowed “I will come back stronger.”
“It’s boxing. You live another day. A rematch is what I’m looking at. I want it straight away. I want my two titles back. I know I won that fight and I think everybody else knows I won it too.”
Peterson, once a homeless youth living on the streets of the US capital, relished taking the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation light-welterweight world titles and ignored Khan’s cries of foul.
“I’m a fighter not a referee. I wasn’t caught up into that,” Peterson said. “I was focused on executing my game plan.”
Promoter Oscar de la Hoya was among those shocked by Cooper’s decision to swipe a point from Khan in the last round.
“The first point, OK, we can deal with,” de la Hoya said. “The second point, people are scratching their heads. What happened? What went on? If that point isn’t deducted the fight is a draw. If the two aren’t deducted Amir Khan wins.”
De la Hoya and the fighters want the rematch, but Khan wants it in England or at the very least in a more traditional boxing venue like Las Vegas.
“I came to his home. Let’s see if he’s got the same balls as me,” Khan said. “I don’t think he has. I gave him an opportunity. I think I should get an opportunity back.”
Peterson did not rule out a rematch in England and agreed that sooner would be better.
“I wouldn’t mind doing it (in England),” Peterson said. “The deal would be right. Everything would have to be right. I would do it.
“If it’s left up to me I would fight him tomorrow. It doesn’t matter when. I’m always ready to fight.”
Khan also complained that he was not awarded a first-round knockdown that Cooper judged a slip. Khan answered with a clear knockdown later in the round but every point turned out to be critical.
“In the first round I got two knockdowns,” Khan said. “Then he took the points straight away without any warning. I was shocked I got that point off in the 12th round. But I’ll get my chance back to show the world.”
Khan did not begrudge Peterson for enjoying his triumph in what all agreed was an electrifying fight.
“I can’t take anything away from him. He wasn’t the ref. He wasn’t a judge. He did what he had to do in the fight,” Khan said. “I have to go back to the drawing board.
“Sometimes you get these bad decisions. You come back stronger. I’m strong. I have got a lot left in me.”
Read more:
amirkhan
Reader Comments (42)
Sports Latest Stories
POA directs players to withdraw from event
Departments told to pull athletes out of national championship.
Danish skips trials after disappointing show
Three slots filled; one left up for grabs ahead of world squash event.
Monaco offers Hamilton his best chance yet
Mercedes to go as ‘favourites’ in this weekend’s Grand Prix.
PFF Challenge Cup: U18 boys’ party ends after close defeat
Junior football team goes down to KESC in quarter-final.
‘Underdogs Australia ready for Ashes test’
Clarke hopeful of bringing the urn home despite England’s form.
Recent Slideshows
More in Sports
Cricket: Pakistan eye win in 1st Test
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, redistributed or derived from.
Unless otherwise stated, all content is copyrighted © 2013 The Express Tribune News Network.
Technical feedback? [email protected]
Oh.. the great muslim warriors .. Us is afraid of this Pakistani
Recommend
Ref made a stupid decisionRecommend
come on man.. forget mayweather he will thrash you like anything.. just pray lamont has a big heart to give u the rematch
Recommend
CIA+RAW+MOSSAD Conspiracy against Khan! Final Victory will be Ours!
Recommend
Amair khan I don’t know which fight you talking about, you were beaten fair and square. You were the one who was doing most of the holding the whole fight. I have been watching you fight for a few years now and do support you but only thing.I would complain about is why the judges even score in your favour at all , should have been a unanamos verdit in Lamont fa or
Recommend
Logged on to read some commentaries on the boxing match and found these hilarious comments : the CIA , Muslim warriors ……… Get of your video games people and join eal life. It was a boxing match and if you know the history of boxing you will know “mistakes” get made
Recommend
The referee was biased against Amir Khan. Lamont was fighting in his home town. Amir should get a rematch in a neutral avenue so that the referee is not biased and inshallah Amir will get back his titles. GO AMIR GO GO !!!Recommend
Congrats Lamont! And Khan just has got to better himself for the future!
Recommend
I put the TV on to watch a fair fight and was bitterly dissappointed at what transpired. What a shame, no one likes to win like that.
Recommend
peterson is champ
Recommend
Get a life people!! There wasnt anything muslim power in tht match. It was a game- a boxing match, Khan played well but as he stated himself he was up against two opponents. It happens. Hope he will get back soon n thats that.
P.S: all those looking for a muslim glory in a boxing match please u people were at the wrong place n clearly at a wrong time. Let sports live n let Khan win without having the religion tag with him. He is a great boxer. Let it stay like that. Islam itself is a great religion which is not relying on sports to prove its truth. Peace.
Recommend
Come on khan stop making exudes as always looking for some one to blame, that’s why the general public don’t like you, as your pay per view ratings are rubbish
So stop moaning and forget about may weather and pacman , they would make you look stupid.
Recommend
Amir Khan is completly over rated. He has no punching power and his defense is atrocious. Although he probably won this fight, Petersen exposed his defeciences. If he fought a quality fighter like Mayweather or Paquiao he would be knocked out in 5 rounds. He should stop fighting the weak chumps in Europe and move to Phiily to start training. The Paki has talent
Recommend
frankly speaking there was no clear winner and a rematch call from either side is very much fair. It should be a wake up call for over confident Amir Khan since he is still just not into the league of Floyd, Pacman etc and had he won this fight, he would had rushed to fight against M.Floyd in 2012 which could had embarrassed him badly so he better wait for his moment. I am sure he will reach there but not just now….
Recommend
Shame. Amir would have to fight Peterson, Bradley, and Maidana, and not on his terms before moving on. hes already a 147 frame.
Three morals to this story:
1 – Never underestimate your opponents,
2 – Dont get too cocky.
3 – Never fight a homeless person in his own backyard
Recommend
When Amir khan fought Paul Mccloskey you could see heres a guy who is just another (great
english prospect). Paul would have come on to stop Khan that night only for (bad refereeing). amir is way over rated. why should petersen give him a rematch when he wouldnt give one to Mccloskey.
Recommend
not fair decision come on khan God is with u beat him with high margin
Recommend
rematch announcment vid
http://t.co/DFa6DNY4
Recommend
Prince Khan should just accept that he lost to King Peterson, he promised to destroy Peterson, due to his speed and power,but could not do that.
Amir should learn to be humble from now and stop making noise of having speed and power without timing that leaves him exposed to brutal uppercuts.
It is better to lose to Peterson and get your career back on track , than to be destroyed on May5 by Mayweather. Manny Pacquiao should also tell Prince khan to consider retirement.
Recommend
Amir Khan did not do himself any favours by constantly being on the back foot. In fact, he was not even on the back foot, he was constantly backing away and allowing Lamont to control the ring and take charge of the fight. When you’re fighting away from home, looking good is vital when the decision goes to the cards.
Amir Khan has boxing ability but seems to be constantly behind the curve. The only time he learns from his deficiencies is when he loses. When he got knocked out, he then focused on strengthening his weak chin which is now far more capable of taking a punch. Instead of coming up with a plan to counter a chasing, smothering fighter after his fight with Maidana, he fell for exactly the same tactics when used by Lamont.
I was far from impressed with Eddie Roach to be honest who during the breaks had nothing much to say except ‘throw the jab’ and for Amirs lack of preparedness for a tactic already used by Maidana he also needs to share part of the blame. It looks as though the Lamont camp watched the Khan/Maidana fight and saw Khans weakness and Khans camp did not even bother watching a fight that Khan came close to losing.
If Lamont gives Khan another chance, which I think he will, I can see Amir Khan winning convincingly but if the only way he can learn is through being defeated then he is going to have to face many more disappointments.
Recommend
Pakistanis are living as usual in denial.. He was fortunate to have fight with Lamont and lost.. They way Khan was playing was perfect KnockOut if Floyd Mayweather had been thereRecommend
British boxer defeated by an American boxer — why is this news?
Recommend
Amir Khan performance was like a pure boxer and a stylish one…. he was fullllll of technique while peterson was just throwing his arms at Amir.
Only 1 Referee was fair who announce Amir winner by 3 points while others cluelessly declared peterson winner by only 1 point……. if we combine points of all 3 referees then again Amir in winner……by 338-337……..
Recommend
Amir Khan came to box and Peterson started a brawl. Then, he had the referee and a judge of all places North Carolina had to step in and award the fight to the home town brawler. What god aweful shame.
Amir Khan won the fight and is a better boxer hands down, up or in the referee’s pockets. American fairplay at work ladies and gentlemen.
Recommend
t I consider all commenting on this fight as Muslim power or Pakistani or USA or MOSSADS conspiracy as Idiots… the fight has nothing to do with Muslim power or Pakistani power.
If we are that much concerned about Muslim power, we need put our act together and discipline ourselves and do whats needed to portray Muslims as per guidance of Islam. Not the way we behave these days…
Recommend
peterson’s the champ
Recommend
I love Amir khan fights. He will beat Peterson again don’t worry just like Mohammed Ali beats Joe Frazeir.
Recommend
Admit the defeat and move on. Why is he so cocky ?
Recommend
Amir has done a good job but last day his badluck was involved in his defeat.
Recommend
Cheated Not Defeated!
Recommend
People, People! i think the guys that are referring to a CIA/ RAW / Mossad conspiracy are only being sarcastic!!
Recommend
@zaid hamid:
that has to be zaid hamid you just cracked me up …. people do take you as a funny tv guy haha
Recommend
Come on dear. It was a great fight. both have done up to the best of their capabilities. But, at the end bad luck for Khan (a british nationality boxer). In fact he won with slight margin (see the scores 113-112, 115-110 & 113-112 in Peterson’s favour) and also the two points cut by referee wrongly. A re-match is must. This match also shown some deficiencies of Khan. I suggest him to ponder upon them and try to be the ‘rightful champ’.
Mr. Zaid & Company, I appreciate your feelings about muslim world but dear be rational & reasonable. This wasn’t a Muslim vs West bout. It was a simple Boxing Bout.
Recommend
Thought Aamir being a boxer would take this defeat ‘on the chin’ Recommend
It was a great fight! One of the best ones I’ve seen this year. But contrary to those who are accusing Peterson of attempting to “head-butt”. Peterson was not leading with his head, not a single clash and no risk of one. Ducking and coming in low is completely legal providing your head is above the belt line. Leading with your head? Check out Bradley, and Ward, Lamont wasn’t even close to that.
This was similar to Lopez holding down Marquez, Lopez didn’t want Marquez on the inside so as soon as Marquez slipped or ducked he’d lean on him and look at the ref. Khan does the exact same thing, while rough and full of grit, Peterson was 100% legit.
All that holding and pushing Khan was doing? It IS against the rules to push although it is not something that commonly takes a point away. Thinking of it generally and also along with other ‘illegal’ things that cause points to be taken away, you have to think of WHY things are illegal. Obviously, elbowing and head-butting are illegal because that can injure the opponent (without using your gloves) leading to an advantage. But when you think of pushing, I can’t see how that helps the fighter who is pushing besides giving them breathing room. Something that Khan didn’t need.. So I really think that if you’re going to blame someone, it has to be Khan for pushing when he didn’t need to. He created space with his feet and is significantly faster. He lost the fight on his own accord after he was warned. It wasn’t really unfair. Though, he shouldn’t have lost that second point, maybe for holding, but he wasn’t warned for that.
Recommend
when they have match and plz tell me time and on which channel i can see the match
Recommend
it’s pathetic to see how Indians are out in full force commenting with Muslims names to discredit Khan — Amir won that fight and only blind jealous can stoop to the level of that referee— Poor Petersen was saved by the bell in the first and beaten so thoroughly that he had to wear glasses for the new conference. — Will be happy to see Amir punish him again in a rematch –Recommend
Uh come on there is nothing to do with anything with Muslim… Lets just take boxing as a sport and Amir Khan as a Pakistani.
Recommend
Indian trolls trying to build a social life by showing a false sense of virility (and comedy, some will say) in front of the computer – usual.
Now, about the fight: yes, the referee showed obvious bias, but, sorry bro, if you want to be on Pacman’s level, don’t play ‘negative boxing’ – you put all your efforts in your speed and targeting your opponent’s head, whereas he tried to workd you out against the ropes, and capitalized on your non-existent defence by throwing body shots, and the occasional who went through your defense… you were defo. dominant in the 1st round, and some here and there, but overall it’s not as easy as some make it, and the only cause of your defeat is not the referee.
Recommend
Rfereeing was atrocious, Petersen did a good job. amir Khan was off his game. Methinks if there is a rematch and Khan is focused (he will be now) he should win easily.
Recommend
Looking at the comments, no wonder we are in PITS!
Recommend
soo looking forwerd to the rematch!!!!
Recommend