Mustafa Ameen in ring with Peterson
Boxing news sources today have revealed that American and current WBA and IBF welterweight champion Lamont Peterson has launched an appeal against the WBA’s decision to grant UK based fighter Amir Khan a rematch following claims that there was interference with the judging panel after Peterson won the title bout on a controversial split decision.
Golden Boy Promotions, the promotions team behind Khan revealed that they felt that Peterson was awarded the victory under strange circumstances and images that were posted on the internet revealed what was seen to be a mystery man pointing to one of the score cards of a member of the judging panel, sparking allegations that the final outcome of the fight was influenced by that man, who was later seen in the ring alongside the Peterson camp following the announcement that he had secured the titles from Khan.
Originally the intention from the Khan camp was that they were going to appeal the decision with both boxing commissions but following consideration Khan’s representatives opted to withdraw their complaint from the IBF following the news that the WBA had agreed to grant Khan a rematch within 180 days of their statement in a bout that would see Khan able to reclaim his former title, but Peterson’s representatives have made ground on an appeal against the rematch.
As the situations stands at the moment, Peterson could be forced to relinquish the WBA welterweight championship title should he refuse to step back into the ring with Khan but with the appeal from his management, the US fighter has revealed that he hopes that the WBA will overturn their decision, something that his management have said they are “confident” that they will do.
Bolton born Khan, 25, turned to social networking site Twitter to reveal that he had seen the news and tweeted to his followers “Now I’ve heard Peterson is appealing against the WBA ruling a rematch. He said he was going to give me a rematch after the fight so why go against it?”
With the appeal working through the WBA system at the moment, Peterson’s team have revealed that Khan’s appeal against the decision will not hold up as he has already withdrawn his IBF complaint, claiming that Golden Boy Promotions withdrew because “his case did not stand up”.
As the withdrawal of their complaint seems to show that Khan’s team feel that there was no “case in which to answer for the IBF” Peterson believes that the decision by the WBA to grant Khan a rematch in Las Vegas on 19th May 2012 will be overturned and the result will and should stand, something that Khan and his managerial team are known to disagree with, saying that they have dropped their IBF complaint due to “only partial representation of fight officials who were involved”.
With the fight coming back into the media spotlight, the so called ‘Mystery Man’ who has now been identified as Mustafa Ameen has revealed what the picture was showing, telling the BBC that he was pointing out two errors that judge Michael Welsh had made during the fight.
Golden Boy Promotions have moved quickly to rule out the explanation that has been offered for the act of seeming to tamper with the official judging scores, referring to the story as being not “plausible” and they will continue to push the WBA to maintain their decision to give Khan the rematch that they feel he deserves.
Ameen revealed that the reason that he was speaking with Welsh was that the judge had added his points score up incorrectly and he was simply helping him with the maths that were present on his page, pointing out that three rounds of nine points was equal to 27, the correct figure that the judge had apparently failed to conclude.
As an explanation of his presence within the ring at the end of the bout, Ameen revealed that he was helping an official with the belt and insists that he would have done the same thing for Khan should he have won the fight, pointing out that he had no preference over which of the fighters had won the fight as many are making out.
Peterson will now await the WBA response to his appeal and insists that although there is media representation of a rematch being discussed between the two promotional teams, his management were not in any conversations with Golden Boy Promotions as they await the WBA decision.