PARIS, France December 19 – British fighter Amir Khan has lost his appeal over his controversial loss to Lamont Peterson in Washington which cost him his IBF and WBA light-welterweight titles.
Khan was penalised two points by referee Joe Cooper for pushing — charges that the Englishman denied.
But on Sunday the International Boxing Federation (IBF) said they were happy with the decision taken by the referee.
“We found no discrepancies that would affect the outcome or the result of the fight,” IBF championships chairman Lindsay Tucker was quoted by the BBC.
“We decided not to order an immediate rematch on the basis of the fact that in the rules, if the referee feels that it’s a foul, then that’s his call to take a point. He did warn Khan several times before he actually took the first point.”
Khan said after the majority decision defeat in Washington that he felt robbed of a rightful triumph and has put his plans to move up to the welterweight ranks on hold until he can fight a rematch against the American.
Cooper deducted points from Khan for pushing in the seventh and 12th rounds and those proved the difference in a fight where two judges saw Peterson a 113-112 winner and the third gave it to Khan 115-100.
“It was like I was in there against two people, the referee and Lamont,” Khan said.
“I had to push him away because he was coming in so low with his head. There was nothing I could do. It was either push him away or get head-butted.”
