By Michael Collins: Earlier today Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer informed Ringtv that the World Boxing Association has contacted him and informed him that they’re ordering an immediate rematch between IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO’s) and Schaefer’s fighter Amir Khan (26-2, 18 Ko’s).
This is the result of Khan’s promoter’s expensive appeal that they made after Khan’s loss to Peterson last December in which a mystery man (Mustafa Ameen) sat with the WBA supervisor during a portion of the fight, a referee that took two points away from Khan for pushing off, and scoring irregularities. Khan and Golden Boy want the fight result to be overturned but it looks like just the rematch was ordered.
The IBF has yet to speak on this matter. They meet on January 18th. Golden Boy put in an expensive appeal with them as well. If they also order a rematch, then we could be seeing Peterson vs. Khan by April. That’s a date that Khan has mentioned in the past.
Khan has said he wants a rematch with Peterson in what he calls a “Neutral venue” and he also wants different judges and a different referee. The referee in the Khan-Peterson fight wasn’t going to allow Khan to repeatedly shove Peterson in order for Khan to escape Peterson’s inside body attacks.
The referee was going to force Khan to fight cleanly by fighting out of the inside attack and Khan didn’t seem to understand that because he kept shoving Peterson rather than rolling away like good fighters do. I’m sure that Khan will have worked on his inside game by the time him and Peterson meet up in a rematch, but I’m not expecting any miracles. Khan will likely use his pushing off, headlocks and pulling down on Peterson’s head just as much in the rematch than he did in the first fight.
The real question is whether the referee that is found for the fight will allow Khan to do this? If Golden Boy is able to get a referee that not only allows Khan to foul with his shoving , but also prevents Peterson from working on the inside by constantly breaking the action, Khan will be in great shape to win his rematch. It comes down to the referee.
If he allows Khan to foul all night long, it’ll give Khan a huge advantage in this fight. Just imagine what Peterson could do if he was to use a fouling technique that specifically targets Khan’s hand speed. If he was to come up with a strategy that let him do this, Peterson would have just as big an advantage as Khan. That doesn’t make it right but it would be an advantage if the referee decided to allow that foul whatever it is.