American Lamont Peterson stunned Britain's Amir Khan on Saturday night in Washington, winning a majority decision to take the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association light-welterweight world titles.
Referee Joe Cooper deducted two points from Khan for shoving Peterson during the bout, once in the seventh round and again in the 12th, and those points proved to be the margin of the Englishman's controversial defeat.
One judge had Khan a 115-110 winner while the other two had Peterson a victor by scores of 113-112. So the home-town hero got the verdict.
"It was like fighting two people in the ring - the ref and Lamont," Khan said. "I see why there hasn't been a big fight in Washington for 20 years; it's because of decisions like this."
Peterson, once a homeless youth living on the streets of the city, improved to 30-1-1 before a sold-out Washington Convention Center while Khan fell to 26-2 with his eight-fight winning streak snapped.
"A lot of people made me the underdog but I followed my game plan and it worked," Peterson said. "It was a long road but all the hard work paid off. Couldn't have been a better night."
Two days after his 25th birthday, Khan suffered his first defeat since falling to Colombian Breidis Prescott in 2008. This defeat could alter his plan to join the welterweight ranks in 2012.
"I'm ready for a rematch," Khan said. "If he wants a fight I'm here."
Peterson, whose only defeat was in 2009 to unbeaten US rival Tim Bradley, could look for a rematch against Bradley but made it clear he was also ready to face Khan again.
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