Amir Khan claims an unidentified man seen talking to officials in his loss in Washington DC also celebrated with Lamont Peterson.
Former champion claims unidentified man celebrated with Peterson
Amir Khan claims an unidentified man seen talking to officials during his loss to Lamont Peterson also celebrated with the new champion after the bout.
Khan is demanding answers after he lost both his WBA and IBF light-welterweight titles on a split decision against hometown fighter Peterson in Washington DC.
Video had already emerged showing an unidentified man speaking with WBA supervisor Michael Walsh during the fight and handling slips of paper Khan says belonged to the judges.
The 25-year-old has reiterated his desire to find out exactly who the mystery man was, as well as stating that the same person went over to Peterson's corner to celebrate.
"That's right, he was (in Peterson's corner). You only see that on the video - at the fight I didn't realise," Khan told
Sky Sports News HD.
"But after watching it on tape, you see him around the same corner as Lamont Peterson's team, cheering with them and celebrating.
"That's the reason I want to know who this person was and why was he sat with the judges? Why was he passing papers around? Why was he handling things?
Scorecards
"The rule is: whenever the judges are working, no one is allowed to touch the judges' papers or scorecards.
"Were they scorecards? I don't know. That's the thing I want to know and that's the complaint I sent out. The WBA have promised me, within the next 24 hours, they're going to let me know exactly what happened."
The man is first seen sitting in the front row before being moved out of his seat by Walsh and to sit right by Khan's promoter Oscar de la Hoya, father Shah and business manager Asif Vali.
During the bout he moves back up to sit next to Walsh at the table where one of the three judges was stationed, and the discussions then started.
"They put a chair right in front of my dad, Oscar and Asif. I remember him sat there and at first they asked who he was," Khan said.
"He was told to leave that area because you need accreditation to be at ringside (so) he was told to leave - he wouldn't leave.
"Then, for some reason, he moved his chair right up to the judges table and was sat there throughout the fight.
Supervisor
"You can see that his and Michael Walsh's heads were always down. They weren't watching the fight when he (Walsh) should have been supervising the fight and making sure everything was going OK.
"Their heads were down and papers were being passed around."
He added: "This is the only fight I've ever seen this happen. Especially when someone's handling papers, cards and sheets - that shouldn't really be happening.
"It's bad for boxing - we want fair fights, we train so hard - 10 weeks of training for a fight - and I think it's unfair to be treated like that."
Khan also insisted that he still wants a rematch with Peterson but claims that the American has snubbed negotiations over a second fight.
Khan said: "All I want is a rematch with Lamont Peterson. I've offered the fight to him and he's not taken the fight, maybe he knows that he would get beat and he was beaten in that last fight and that's why he doesn't want to take the fight."