By Joseph Herron – It’s been a rough year for the IBF Junior Welterweight Champion.
On December 10th, 2011, Lamont “Havoc” Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KOs) fought the fight of his life and pulled off the improbable upset over former IBF and WBA 140 pound champion, Amir Khan. Although the DMV based fighter won by way of controversial split decision, Lamont turned a lot of heads with his gritty performance by battling the heavy favorite in a very physical but entertaining contest.
After the highly publicized surprise victory, things quickly went downhill in a hurry for the Junior Welterweight “maverick”.
With no rematch clause inserted in the pre fight contractual agreement, Golden Boy Promotions and Team Khan formally contested the December fight verdict, attempting to either reverse the official fight decision to reflect a “no contest” judgment or strong-arm the newly crowned champ into granting the former title holder an immediate return bout.
Subsequent to much deliberation, the 28 year old fighter eventually decided to turn down an offer made by Bob Arum and Top Rank, Inc. to face Juan Manuel Marquez in Cowboys Stadium, and enter into an agreement with Golden Boy Promotions to fight Amir Khan once again on May 19th, 2012.
One of the stipulations made by Team Peterson during the pre-fight negotiations was a request for random drug testing to be administered by VADA, an anti-doping agency created by longtime Nevada ring physician Dr. Margaret Goodman, sporadically during both fighters’ pre fight preparations.
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