By William Mackay: Amir Khan has got his way and will be fighting a rematch against IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson next month on May 19th at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. There’s rumors that referee Joe Cortez will be the one working the fight, but nothing yet has been confirmed on that end.

After all the complaining that Khan did about his loss to Peterson last December, what will Khan’s excuse be if he loses a second time? Boxing fans can buy a conspiracy excuse once from a fighter but it gets old fast if that same fighter goes back to the same old tired excuses in their next loss.

More than the excuses, I’m wondering what will happen with Khan. He’s been talking about wanting to move up in weight to the welterweight division to go after a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. If Khan losses to Peterson again, it might be almost comical for Khan to move up to welterweight to try and coax Mayweather to fight him. Even if Khan comes armed with excuses about being ripped off by the judges or the referee, it’s going to be difficult for him to make a strong case that he deserves a fight against Mayweather.

At the same time, I don’t see Khan having his head into staying at light welterweight and fighting the likes of Mike Alvarado, Ajose Olusegun, Danny Garcia or Tim Bradley. Khan wants the big fights, but how can he get them if gets beaten again? There are too many tough fights for Khan at this weight and I don’t think he’ll want any part of staying. Can you imagine Khan fighting someone like Mike Alvarado? It would be brutal because Alvarado would take Khan’s slaps without any issues and stalk him until he’s got Khan trapped. He would then blast away at him until he got a stoppage.

Khan will likely still move up in weight to 147 if he loses to Peterson. That’s still the place where Khan wants to be, and he might be able to talk his way into a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. if Khan kicks up enough dirt about his next defeat at the hands of Peterson. Khan could maybe create another conspiracy theory about the judges, scorecards or him losing points for this or that foul that he’ll likely use in the Peterson rematch. Khan complained long and hard about his loss last time, and he was able to convince people that there was a controversy by his defeat. If he did it once, he can do it again and make it seem like he didn’t lose. Maybe Mayweathr will want to fight him under those conditions.