By William Mackay: On May 19th, Amir Khan and IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson will do it again in a rematch at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The last time they met, Peterson defeated Khan by a 12 round decision in Washington, DC in a fight where Khan seemed to lose control of the fight by fouling almost nonstop from the 5th round on.

Khan had the fight under control in the first three rounds and looked to be well on his way to winning an easy decision if not a stoppage. However, things kind of unraveled for Khan starting in the 4th when Khan decided to stop running and try to fight Peterson by standing and trading in a one-on-one fight. Khan quickly discovered that he didn’t have the power, the defensive skills or the ability to take the punishment required for him to fight that kind of bout. From that moment on, Khan seemed to lose his senses completely, as he ran around the ring for the next eight rounds, shoving Peterson every time he got close, wrapping him in headlocks that turned Peterson’s red each time and pulling down on his head in an usual wrestling type of move. It was very odd to say the least.

It was watching someone that was mixing in non-boxing moves in order to survive. The referee Joe Cooper looked completely disgusted with what he was seeing from Khan, and he warned him over and over again to stop pulling down on Peterson’s head, and to stop pushing him. Finally, with Khan not following Cooper’s instructions, he took a point off for Khan’s shoving in the 7th. I wish Khan had stopped shoving at that point but he didn’t. It was like he was never warned at all because he kept shoving Peterson until referee took another point off in the 12th for the same. I lost track of the amount of shoves that Khan had given Peterson since the first time he was penalized but it more than enough for him to receive a second point deduction.

In the rematch, I’m really hoping that the referee that gets chosen is someone that doesn’t put up with fouling because I’d hate to see one of these guys take advantage of being able to foul and win the fight because of that. I’ve heard that referee Joe Cortez could be the one that’s picked, but I’m doubting that the Nevada State Athletic Commission will make that decision because Cortez worked Khan’s fight against Marcos Maidana in 2010.