Boxing: Peterson edges Khan to win world titles

American Lamont Peterson stunned Britain’s Amir Khan on Saturday, winning a majority decision to take the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association light-welterweight world titles.
Referee Joe Cooper took two points from Khan for shoving Peterson during the bout, one in the seventh round and another in the 12th, and they proved to be the margin of the Englishman’s controversial defeat.
One judge saw Khan a 115-110 winner while the other two judged Peterson the victor by scores of 113-112, giving the hometown hero the triumph.
“It was like fighting two people in the ring, the referee and Lamont,” Khan said. “I can see why there hasn’t been a big fight in Washington in the last 20 years, because of decisions like this.”
Peterson, once a homeless youth living on the streets of the US capital, improved to 30-1-1 before a sellout crowd of 8,647 at Washington Convention Center while Khan fell to 26-2 with his eight-fight win streak snapped.
“A lot of people thought I was the underdog but I followed my game plan the entire time and it worked,” Peterson said. “It was a long road but all the hard work paid off. Couldn’t have been a better night.”
Khan made USD 1.1 million for the fight plus more from British pay-per-view television while Peterson took home USD 650,000.