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Amir Khan felt he was "against two people" after suffering a split-decision points loss at the hands of American Lamont Peterson.
The British boxer saw the WBA and IBF light-welterweight titles slip from his grasp at the Convention Center in Washington after twice being docked points for pushing by referee Joseph Cooper.
In the end the deductions cost him dear, Peterson - fighting in his own back yard - getting the nod 113-112 from two judges, with the other scoring it 114-111 in Khan's
The 25-year-old was far from happy with the performance of Cooper, insisting he had no choice but to push his opponent away because he was coming in with his head down.
"It was like I was against two people in there - the referee and Lamont himself," he said afterwards.
"Everytime he was coming into me he was putting his head low. He was coming in lower, and lower. I was the cleaner fighter in there.
"You know it's no wonder there's never been boxing in (Washington) DC for the last 20 years, because this is what happens."
When asked if he'd like a shot at getting the belts back, the Brit replied: "I'm ready for a rematch."
Fortunate
Peterson, in contrast, felt the man from Bolton was fortunate not to be punished even further.
"I think he (the referee) should have taken points for him (Khan) holding my head down. A lot of times I didn't bend all the way down and he just pulled my head down," he said.
"He was pushing a lot but I didn't mind that."
The new champion had to do it the hard way on home soil, climbing off the canvas twice in the opening round, albeit with only one of them being scored a knockdown in Khan's favour, to force his way back into the bout.
He had his rival wobbling in the third as his decision to pour forward and put the pressure on the 25-year-old reaped obvious dividends.
"All the hard work paid off," Peterson said. "It couldn't have been a better night.
"I was a big underdog, a lot of people thought Khan would win early on. But I stand for something, I'm not going to lie down. I'm going to fight all the way through."
He too insisted he would be happy to do it all again, adding: "I would definitely give him a re-match. I wouldn't mind doing it again."
