British boxer Amir Khan on Tuesday vowed to learn from his mistakes when he faces American Lamont Peterson in their keenly anticipated world title rematch in May. Khan cried foul after losing a split decision to Peterson in their see-saw battle for the WBA and IBF lightwelterweight titles in Washington in December, insisting he had been the victim of dubious scoring.
However Khan, 25, said he expected a different story would unfold in the May 19 rematch at the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas.
“In my eyes, the fight was the best fight of 2011. It was toe-to-toe action and exciting,” Khan said at a press conference to promote the fight in London.
“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,” said Khan, who won an Olympic silver as a 17-year-old in 2004.
“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 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.”
