Amir refuses to give up on titles (From Asian Image)

Amir refuses to give up on titles

4:10pm Thursday 15th December 2011 in Sport

AMIR Khan will wait for the verdict of an official appeal against his defeat to Lamont Peterson before stepping up his bid for a rematch.

Team Khan have slapped in a complaint to the WBA and IBF after feeling their man had been harshly treated at the hands of Virginia-based referee Joseph Cooper in his controversial points loss in Washington DC on Saturday night.

Cooper deducted two points for pushing, which proved vital in swinging the vote of two of the three judges concerned.

But Khan’s business manager Asif Vali confirmed that decision was being challenged with both organisations, with a final ruling expected within the next 10 days.

“Our complaint is the referee and the manner he judged that fight,” he said. “There were big calls in there, and there are no rules saying that a push is a point deduction.

“We are taking this very seriously and want to make sure we follow full procedures in getting to where we want to be.”

A ray of hope could potentially have appeared overnight as Bernard Hopkins saw his TKO defeat against Chad Dawson in October overturned.

The contest has now been deemed a no-contest and the WBC light-heavyweight title returned to its original owner.

Khan’s case is more complicated as the fight went the distance, but that hasn’t prevented the Bolton boxer from returning home feeling he had been wronged in Lamont’s home city.

“I spoke to Bernard Hopkins and Oscar de la Hoya before the fight and they said before I even go in I’ll be two points down because I’m fighting in his own state,” Khan said.

“I thought my boxing skills would win it. Taking nothing away from him, but it’s the first time ever I have had points deducted. We have put a complaint in, so we’ll see where that goes. We should find out in the next seven to 10 days.”

Khan must run the risk that the two separate organisations make different rulings on his appeal, which could confuse the issue of a possible rematch which has been pencilled in for early in the new year. But the 25-year-old is adamant that any potential fight would take place on neutral territory and would be his last at lightwelterweight.

“I did say I was going to move up to 147kg after this fight but I’ll be at this weight for one more fight to settle the score,”

he added.

“I want somewhere neutral, maybe Vegas. He won’t want to come here to the UK, but I’d fight anywhere but DC.

“He’d never come here but if I did beat him here, he could claim the same thing that happened to me. I’d want a neutral venue and neutral officials.

“The referee had done 41 fights in DC, and only four title fights. He was a bit inexperienced and it was one of those things the team should have looked at. There was pressure on him to make decisions.

“A lot of people have said it was stupid, or a mistake for us to go there, in Peterson’s own back yard. But that’s the fighter I am.