Roach tells Khan he must get off the ropes and box (From Asian Image)

Roach tells Khan he must get off the ropes and box

9:01am Tuesday 13th December 2011 in Sport

FREDDIE Roach insists Amir Khan can still go on to earn a fight with Floyd Mayweather in the future – but he admits the Bolton boxer is currently too entertaining for his own good.

Khan surprisingly lost his WBA and IBF lightwelterweight titles with a controversial split decision defeat to Lamont Peterson in the American’s home city of Washington DC on Saturday.

An official complaint has been lodged against Virginia-based referee Joseph Cooper, who crucially deducted two points from Khan during the fight, and it is now hoped a rematch will take place on March 31 – most likely in the neutral venue of Las Vegas.

Khan had been closing in on a super fight with Mayweather before Saturday’s loss and Roach, pictured below, still believes that bout will happen one day.

But the trainer is currently determined to get a rematch with Peterson and admits Khan must improve his defensive skills should they fight again.

Peterson caused the 25-year-old real problems at times at the weekend in a contest being described as one of the fights of the year – 12 months after the Boltonian clung on against Marcos Maidana in a similarly dramatic duel, which won the 2010 Fight Of The Year award.

Asked if Khan is too entertaining for his own good, Roach said: “Yes, sometimes.

“He went to the ropes a little bit too much. When he stayed on the ropes and let him land body shots, it was something we worked on not doing.

“He’s a warrior and he likes to test people, but he stayed on the ropes a little bit too much this time.

“We’ll learn from our mistakes and have to get better.

“He was never hurt in the fight, I never thought he was in danger, he just chose the wrong tactics I feel, he gave him too much momentum.

“But I see it as a learning experience, I don’t think it’s a really big setback, it was obviously controversial – it was the worst refereeing I’ve seen in a long time.

“Mayweather is still definitely a possiblity, that’s obvious, Amir is at that level. But I don’t want Mayweather right now, I want a rematch.

“I’d like to stay at 140lbs and clear this up. We've always got to beat the guy who beat you.

“Everyone tells us we have got to beat (Breidis) Prescott down the line at some point but he’s gone the other way and he’s not even rated so we can’t fight him. But we can fight Lamont Peterson again now.”