Amir Khan has challenged Lamont Peterson to show he has the "balls" to give him a rematch in England after controversially losing his titles to the American in his Washington hometown. The Briton lost his IBF and WBA light-welterweight belts on a split decision to Peterson after a sloppy performance which saw him dragged into a scrap by the local fan favorite.
Khan - who lost after two judges awarded the contest to Peterson with scores of 113-112 - preferred to focus on a perceived injustice at the Walter E Washington Convention Center, blaming referee Joseph Cooper's decision to dock him a point on two occasions while also disputing the judges' scoring of the bout.
Indeed, there was an air of confusion at the end of the fight as ring announcer Michael Buffer not only read out an incorrect score but also wrongly announced Peterson's method of victory as a majority decision rather than a split decision.
Khan's team have vowed to take their grievance through the official channels and while in reality little is likely to come from those complaints officially, the fight was close and exciting enough to warrant a rematch.
Khan's objections are thought to centre not just on referee Joe Cooper's admonishments but also the time taken to calculate the result and particularly the way one of the scorecards was recorded.
George Hill - who, like fellow judge Valerie Dorsett scored the bout 113-112 in Peterson's favour - appeared to initially score the seventh round 10-8 to Khan before amending it to read 10-8 to Peterson.
That anomaly could be explained by the fact Khan was docked a point in that round and Hill may have made a mistake which was then rectified.
"I don't know why it took so long (to give the verdict)," said Khan, who had knocked Peterson down in the first round but subsequently had to go into survival mode himself in later rounds. If they thought he won fair and square then I don't know why it took so long from the judges to get the scorecards out there."
