Boxing: ‘I won’t make any mistakes this time’ says Amir Khan

Published on 14/03/2012 00:00

AMIR Khan has promised not to make the same mistakes he made first time around when he faces Lamont Peterson in a rematch on Saturday, 19 May.

Khan still blames foul play for his December split decision defeat by Peterson in the American’s Washington hometown, which saw him lose his WBA and IBF light-welterweight titles.

The Bolton boxer has a shot at revenge in two months’ time when the pair meet at the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas and has vowed to make amends.

“In my eyes, the fight was the best fight of 2011. It was toe-to-toe action and exciting,” he said at a press conference in London yesterday.

“But, for this fight, we’re going to change a lot of things. I’ll train hard and am not going to make any mistakes at all. It’s a huge fight, a winnable fight.

“I made a few mistakes in the first fight but I still felt I won it. It was tough and the next one will be even tougher because we know what to expect from each other.

“I’ve started training early for this fight, I wanted to get back in the gym and get into shape. I’m going to meet Freddie [Roach, trainer] next week to train at the Wildcard Gym [in Los Angeles] and then go to the Philippines for high altitude training.”

Khan added: “I always train like a challenger and I want to bring those titles back to Britain.

“We’ll see a different Amir Khan for this fight. I’ll be explosive, as always, and maybe this fight can be one of the fights of the year too.”

Khan had a number of grievances surrounding the 10 December defeat, ranging from referee Joe Cooper’s decision to dock him points for holding to the appearance of so-called “mystery man” Mustafa Ameen among the judges at ringside.

Peterson continues to give Khan’s complaints short shrift, though.

The American said: “I decided to take the rematch not because of anything Khan’s team said or because I feel I have to prove myself to anyone, I took it because you all thought it was a great fight and that we should do it again. It seems Team Khan still have problems with what happened in DC. I can only tell them that nothing shady happened, but I’m sure they won’t take my word for it.

“You [Khan] have your chance to make things right. I’m looking forward to a good fight.

“I’ll be ready to die in the ring to keep these titles.”