Lamont Peterson rebukes 'arrogant' Amir Khan over rematch

By Richard Conway BBC Sport Lamont Peterson has accused Amir Khan of "arrogance" for suggesting he is unable to fight better than he did in their controversial first bout. Khan has said he will "win convincingly" in the Las Vegas rematch and that Peterson would not surpass his efforts of their fight in December. "How can you just assume that I can't fight better than what I fought him in Washington DC and he can?" he said. The world title rematch takes place at the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, on 19 May. Khan lost his IBF and WBA light-welterweight belts in December in Washington DC in a split points decision last year. Peterson told BBC Sport that the Bolton boxer was demonstrating "arrogance" ahead of a London news conference to promote the rematch. "I won't say the same about him," said Peterson. "I expect him to fight a better fight but, at the same time, I know I'm going to be better. "He can overlook what happened in DC all he wants. It's only going to hurt him to think that way, not me. So I'm glad he thinks that way." Initially, Khan appealed against the loss to Peterson, citing concerns about points deductions by referee Joseph Cooper for pushing and also the judging of the fight. Peterson, however, was keen to put his point of view across on events both inside and outside the ring that night. "There was no cheating going on in DC," he insisted. "Deep down inside Khan knows that. "The points being taken away from him? They should have took points. Pushing is one thing. Forearming someone in the face then pushing off is another. "Any time you do damage to someone due to fouls you should get points deducted." In January, Khan took to his Twitter account to ask a series of questions over "mystery man" Mustafa Ameen who was seen at ringside talking to Michael Welsh, the WBA scoring supervisor, throughout the bout. In an exclusive interview with BBC Sport later that same month, Ameen claimed he was only correcting mistakes and that Welsh had been complaining of feeling unwell. " had no business being there but at the end of the day he didn't touch any judge's scorecard," said Peterson. "They can feel what they want but deep down inside they know the truth." Peterson also responded to suggestions from the Khan camp that he repeatedly used his head during the fight, prompting Khan to push him away. He said: "You can watch any Amir Khan fight, he pushes all the time. "But I was coming to him more often than other people, so he pushed a little more. "But he always does it. He always pushes. He always pulls people's heads down. "I have no history of head-butting anyone or head-charging anyone." With several big-name fighters looking for potential match-ups, the 28-year-old was clear in his ambitions for life after the rematch, with his mind set on securing a shot at Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao, the current giants of the welterweight division. "I want to be considered one of the best fighters," added Peterson. "So fighting one of those guys, getting a victory over Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao, will get me to that goal. So of course, those are the guys that I want."