Khan: Time to move on

Amir Khan: Looking to move on from the Peterson debacle

Amir Khan admits the aftermath of his defeat to Lamont Peterson was the hardest period of his career.

It was the Briton's second defeat, more than three years after his bubble was burst by Breidis Prescott, however his most recent loss took a bigger toil.

The fall-out from that fight was messy and controversial as Khan raised a number of grievances relating to issues inside and outside the ring.

"Straight after the fight I was devastated because I'd lost the fight and I was so upset. "
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The saga reached new levels before their scheduled May rematch when American Peterson tested positive for banned synthetic testosterone, before admitting he had already used it before their first fight in December, albeit for medical reasons.

However, he is in a better place now that the WBA have reinstated him as champion on the eve of his fight against WBC light-welterweight champ Danny Garcia.

"It was the hardest six months of my career," Khan said. "Straight after the fight I was devastated because I'd lost the fight and I was so upset.

"Then when I got into the camp I was so happy that I'd got the rematch, because even that was so hard to negotiate. I agreed to whatever they said.

"He was making his biggest pay-day in that fight. It was a 50-50 split and he was making something like £1.5million. It's a lot of money. He then got caught.

"He must be kicking himself because even if he'd lost the rematch, he still would have made that sum. It's a lot of money for a guy brought up off the streets. It would have changed his life.

"But look at me, I've got another fight. People kind of thought 'wait a minute, Amir really did win that fight, because Peterson was on steroids and he was a cheat'.

"That respect he had is totally gone. Even if he'd knocked me out in that fight and then got caught, people would not have respected him for the win. Once you take drugs, you're a cheat."