by Frank Warren

ANOTHER Brit abroad and yet another controversial decision.

Last Saturday, Bolton's Amir Khan lost his WBA and IBF light-welterweight titles to Lamont Peterson in Washington DC — Peterson's backyard.

Two American judges had Peterson the winner by 113-112, while Puerto Rican judge Nelson Vasquez had Khan the winner by a 115-110 score.

For once, though, it wasn't the judges who came under fire but referee Joseph Cooper after he repeatedly warned Khan about pushing Peterson.

Khan wasn't listening to the ref so Cooper docked the Brit two points, one in the seventh and one in the last round.

There was also controversy over Khan's two knockdowns of Peterson in the first round, with Cooper only counting one of them.

But the reality is that, regardless of the referee, Khan was too easy to hit — just as he was against Marcos Maidana, a fight in which he came perilously close to being stopped last year.

Peterson is not a big puncher, which was a blessing for the big-hearted Khan.

Yet Khan's head was repeatedly rocked with punches and he also struggled to fight on the inside, hence the pushing away.

The point is that this should never have been a debatable decision, as Khan made extremely hard work of what a lot of people felt should have been an easy win.

Khan and his promoters Golden Boy have made lots of noise for a rematch — with May 19 in Los Angeles the proposed date — and lodged complaints with the WBA and IBF governing bodies. The IBF has already denied their appeal for a rematch.

But if Khan faces Peterson again, it will be a much tougher contest and he'll have his work cut out.

Peterson, who was once homeless on the streets of America's capital, said straight after the fight that he would give Khan a rematch.

But once things have settled down, I'm sure he'll look at the bigger picture which could include a unification contest with WBO title holder Timothy Bradley — the only man to have beaten him.

On last weekend's display, Khan would not be a tough fight for Floyd Mayweather Jnr.

In fact Khan shouldn't even think about moving up to welterweight unless he is really struggling at the weight and not just looking for a big pay-day.

IF Dereck Chisora fights the way he did against Robert Helenius, he's got a chance of upsetting Vitali Klitschko in Germany next February.

Del Boy was blatantly robbed in his fight with Finn Helenius for the European heavyweight title.

But he now has a crack at the WBC world title and will be in tip-top shape, so expect a real battle.

CARL FROCH is concerned about the judges — two of which are American — ahead of his super-middleweight title fight in Atlantic City tonight.

He knows all about hometown treatment after winning a controversial split decision over Andre Dirrell in Nottingham in 2009.

So Froch will have to knock Andre Ward out but I'll go with Ward on points.