By William Mackay: Amir Khan says he’s going to stay at 140lbs for one more fight to take on IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson in a rematch to try and regain his lost titles, then Khan plans on moving up to the welterweight division to seek out bigger fights at that weight. Khan was beaten by Peterson by a 12 round split decision last night in Washington, DC, and Khan believes he deserve to win the fight.

Khan believes that had the referee not taken away two points from him for shoving Peterson in rounds seven and twelve, he would have won the fight.

Khan said this at the post fight press conference “I want to do one more fight at 140; a rematch. Let’s make it fair and even. I’m still 140 for one fight.”

It doesn’t appear to have sunk in with Khan that he deserved to lose the fight because he was dominated on the inside and had to resort to different fouling measures to cover up his inability to handle Peterson’s pressure. The fouls that Khan got away repeatedly during the fight were as follows: headlocks, pulling down on Peterson’s head, holding, holding and hitting, and of course, shoving. Khan lost two points for the shoving and felt he shouldn’t have been penalized for those fouls. Why Khan feels he didn’t deserve to be penalized is beyond me because he was clearly in the wrong by breaking the rules so flagrantly.

A Khan-Peterson II rematch could take place on March 31st. That’s the date that’s being mentioned thus far.
It seems misguide for Khan to be moving up in weight even if he does somehow squeak by Peterson in a rematch. The reason Khan gave before the Peterson fight for moving up in weight is that he had deemed himself the best fighter in the division and felt that there were no other challenges for him at this weight and he needed to move up to find guys that could be competitive with him.

We saw last Saturday that Khan was no better than Peterson, and even if you want to take out those two point deductions by the referee and the blown call where he gave Khan a bogus knockdown, the fight was pretty much an even fight. Khan can’t blame the referee for his poor performance dealing with the pressure or his lack of ability on the inside. That’s his fault, not the referees.

And for Khan to be seeing a rematch with Peterson as potentially his last fight at 140 because he would then have proved he’s the best fighter at this weight is simply a joke. Based on what I saw from Khan last Saturday, he would struggle and possibly lost to have half a dozen of the best fighters in the light welterweight division. Khan moving up in weight without showing he’s the best is premature and a joke.