Boxer Amir Khan relishing return to Las Vegas to take on Zab Judah

Amir Khan trains at a sparring session at Wild Card Boxing Club

Amir Khan in shock points loss to Lamont Peterson

Khan (left) and Malignaggi at the press conference on March 17, 2010.

Boxer Tony Bellew claims light-heavyweight crown in Liverpool

Amir Khan

AMIR KHAN has vowed to learn from his controversial defeat by Lamont Peterson.

Despite Khan’s insistence that he was robbed by the referee and the judges, he knows he made mistakes.

The former WBA and IBF light-welterweight champ did not follow Freddie Roach’s game plan and got pinned on the ropes far too often by Peterson.

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Khan, 25, tried to slug it out with the American in his Washington backyard instead of boxing him with his jab.

He came back stronger from his only other professional loss to Breidis Prescott in 2008 and says he will learn the lessons from his second defeat.

“I know the little mistakes I made and I will get rid of them,” said Khan, who flies home to Britain today. “I learnt the hard way against Breidis and changed. That was a good thing that happened to me then and was a wake-up call. This is another one.

“This is only going to make me work harder. I know I won the fight and it’s going to motivate me to work harder. It’s about how you come back from these setbacks and one thing about me is that I give it my all. Things happen for a reason and I am maturing. Maybe when I’m 26, I will be fully matured. I will get this fight out of the way and then move up to 147lb.”

Although there was no rematch clause in the contract because Peterson was the IBF’s mandatory challenger, Khan claims the new champ promised him one when they bumped into each other in hospital after the fight.

March 31 in Las Vegas looks the most likely date and venue and a hurt Khan, sporting his first-ever black eye, has promised to make Peterson (left) pay for taking away his cherished belts.

The Olympic silver medallist in Athens was surprised by his opponent’s disciplined performance and says he now knows how to handle him in a rematch. “There’s nothing in the contract for a rematch, but I saw him in the hospital after and he said he knew how I was feeling because he felt the same when he drew against Victor Ortiz,” he said.

“The rematch is going to be bigger and I know now there is one more fight for me at 140. I want my titles back.

“Beating him will be great. He’s the one who will have to suffer. I’m going to work hard and change what I did wrong in the ring. We’ll be working on the angles when I go back to Freddie. It was a better Peterson than the one who drew against Victor Ortiz. We know exactly what he does now and we’ll be ready.”

Khan’s camp and US promoter Golden Boy officially lodged a complaint against referee Joe Cooper and the judges to the DC boxing board, the WBA and IBF.

They reckon at least one scorecard was altered after the final bell, changing the result from a Khan win into a Peterson one on a split decision