WBA has ordered an immediate Khan-Peterson rematch

Khan gets his way: The WBA orders an immediate rematch between Khan and Peterson By Michael Collins: Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KO’s) is probably feeling pretty pleased right about now with the news today that the World Boxing Association has decided to order an immediate rematch between Khan and the current IBFWBA light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO’s). This comes after Khan was beaten by Peterson on December 10th by a 12 round split decision in a fight where Khan was docked two points for pushing off. Khan and his promoters from Golden Boy filed an expensive appeal after the fight, pointing to the point deductions, which they felt was needless and scoring problems and the presence of the mystery man, Mustafa Ameen, who was seen sitting and talking with WBA supervisor Michael Welsh during the fight. Ameen should not have been permitted to sit with Welsh during the fight, says Golden Boy. Richard Schaefer, the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, told ****** “I just received a half hour ago, a letter from the WBA on their official decision that they are going to order an immediate rematch. I think that it’s the right decision, and I hope that we can get the rematch done.” The International Boxing Federation will be meeting next week on January 18th to render a verdict on the Khan appeal. Khan and Schaefer were looking to have the fight result overturned to a ‘No decision.’ They didn’t get what they wanted on that end, but they did get the main they thing were asking for, which was a rematch. Was an appeal really needed? Probably not, because Peterson has few options other than the Khan rematch or a longshot chance at a fight with WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. Peterson was likely to be coming back for a rematch with Khan anyway and the only thing the appeal has accomplished is forcing something that was bound to happen anyway and create a lot of negative feelings towards Khan. In hindsight, it was probably a really stupid thing to do because it was a waste of money on the appeal and not good for public relations purposes. You couldn’t have come up a worse thing today after a defeat than what Khan and Golden Boy did in complaining, pointing fingers and failing to take responsibility for what actually happened in the ring. Khan came across as a sore loser, unable to accept a defeat and desperate to look for outside reasons to cover up his failings. The only way Khan won’t get the rematch now is if Bob Arum selects Peterson to fight Pacquiao in June. I doubt that will happen because Peterson isn’t a pay per view attraction and Arum and Pacquiao are interested in making the most money possible.