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Amir Khan & Richard Schaefer
Teleconference Transcript
Monica Sears
Thank you, Christa. I'd like to thank everyone for taking
time out of their morning, or afternoon, to join us for
today's call which has the CEO of Golden Boys Promotion,
Richard Schaefer on the line, as well as Amir Khan, and
Amir's business manager Asif Vali.
At this time I'd like to send the call to Richard who will
introduce everyone and give some opening statements about
the fight that occurred on December 10th. Richard?
Richard Schaefer
Thank you very much, Monica, and thank you all for being on
this call. I know it's a holiday week for many and I really
appreciate that you guys are taking time out of your
schedule. I'd like make some opening marks, remarks, walk
you quickly through where we stand and what the next steps
are, um, as it relates to Amir and the fight and everything,
and then turn it over for Amir for some comments and then
opening it up for questions.
Well, first of all let me state that the purpose of this
call is in no way or shape to attack or question the
performance of Lamont Peterson and his team. I think Lamont
fought a very good fight, it was an exciting fight. In fact,
many people feel it was another fight of the year candidate,
so this is absolutely nothing about taking anything away
from Lamont Peterson. It is simply to look at the facts,
present the facts, and give the people involved an
opportunity to correct their mistakes. It's basically about
doing the right thing.
So let's look at these facts. Let's look where we stand.
There was clearly controversy after the fight on this
scoring. I've ha, have hardly ever seen uh, the, the time it
took for tabulating this card and announcing the decision.
That was very strange in itself.
Then you look at the official card, which showed initially a
10/10 on the scorecard of George Hill for round seven. It
was later crossed out and changed to an 8/10 in favor of
Peterson. Then you look at the WBC's WBA supervisor, Michael
Walsh, who is a certified public accountant and CPA by
profession, and probably the man with the most experience
that night sitting ringside there.
Certainly from an accounting point of view, but as well from
a fight official point of view, he was involved in many
other championship fights before. And he kept, as it is
customary, a WBA master score sheet which used as an input
the same information as the District of Columbia Boxing
Commission used for their scorecard. It's basically the
individual per rounds score slips, which are collected from
the referee and then supposed to be given to the Commission.
So the Commission keeps the master score sheet, so does the
WBA, and so does the IBF. Therefore the results would be the
same, right, because they all use the same information. Well
shockingly it was not, it was different. It was the same for
the scorecard of Nelson Vasquez, who had it for Khan, and it
was the same for Valerie Dorsett, who had it for Peterson,
but somehow George Hill's card had it a draw. Therefore the
WBA showed on their card that the fight was a draw.
Dave Itskowitch, our Chief Operating Officer and certainly
one of the most honest and straight-forward people I have
ever met, and all of those, those of you who know him,
certainly would agree with me. He actually saw the card, the
official WBA card with his own eyes right after the fight.
And the WBA's not disputing that the WBA card is different
from the official, ah, from the official card.
Now what happened with the IBF card, with the IBF master
score card? It was gone after the fight. Funny enough, it
disappeared. When I talked to Lindsey Tucker on Monday
morning, Lindsey Tucker is the IBF official, I asked him
what happened, he said that the IBF supervisor who was there
for the fight told him that it disappeared, that it seems to
him that the District of Columbia took it while he was in
the ring presenting Peterson with the belt.
Then suddenly two days ago, an IBF scorecard appeared. It
looks as it was made up after the fact, no question about it
or was made about, yeah, two days. The printing was way too
neat and consistent, not consistent with what usually a
scorecard looks like. So, we're not, we're just, as I said
before, we're just outlining the facts here. Ah, there
clearly is some smoke as it relates to the scorecards and
you know the old saying, where there is smoke there is fire.
Now let's move on to the points deductions. There are
serious issues with these point deductions. First of all
there were clearly no fouls. Even Lamont Peterson
acknowledged in the post-fight interview that the push, that
the push-off from Amir did not bother him at all.
There are no provisions in the rules related to pushing. In
fact the uniform rules of the Association of Boxing
Commission do not mention pushing or even excessive pushing
as a foul. Even fellow referees, some of the veterans in the
sport and they never; believe me, they never second guess a
colleagues performance, had issue with referee Cooper's
point deductions and the way he handled that fight.
Several news stories to that effect were published in the
last few days and you can read about outspoken comments from
fellow referees. There was clearly no basis for one point
and certainly, absolutely none for two-point deductions. The
fact is that the ref performed one of the worst cases of
home cooking I have ever seen. The fact is that Amir
complained during the fight about the excessive and
continued use of the head by Peterson and coming in low,
head first. The ref realized that and warned Peterson.
Let me just briefly walk you through the fight at the
relevant warnings from the ref to Peterson, and again, I'm
not making this stuff up. You guys can go and watch the tape
yourself if you don't believe me. Rounds two, referee warned
three times, keep your head up, keep your head up. Round
four, one warning; get your head up. Round five; keep your
head up, son. Round six, five of the rounds the ref warned
Barry Hunter; anymore of that and I will take a point away.
He went on to warn him two more times in that round six.
At 2:04 seconds remaining, Amir looked at the ref and
complained about Peterson's head. Round eight, again keep
your head up Peterson, one warning. Round 10, 2:20, 2:44
seconds remaining, Amir looks up and again complains about
the low blow. Three more warnings; get your head off him.
Let go, keep your head off him, keep your head up. Round 11,
two more warnings, another complaint from Amir at the close
of the round. Twelfth round; ah, again one warning; break,
keep your head up. And again Amir complained about the
Peterson head.
So the inconsistency, the inconsistency is absolutely
shocking. The ref didn't deduct any points, but if this is
not home cooking I don't know what is. It's clear, and I
mean very clear, that after the first round that Amir was
fighting not one, but two people in the ring. Now again, you
can't blame Peterson for that, and we're not blaming
Peterson, has nothing to do with Peterson.
The fact is the ref didn't do his job, worse, he did a
shitty job. Now people make mistakes, and I believe in
giving them an opportunity to correct the situation. These
points are razor fact, we don't make them up. They're clear
and unquestionable facts. This decision has to be corrected.
I hope that they were just honest mistakes and the truth
will prevail and the result be corrected. Anything but,
would be another black eye, for the sports, the sanction
organization and the District of Columbia.
Now for those people who have suggested; why did you go to
the guy's hometown, why did they go to Washington? We would
never take a fight there. You know you have these Sunday
morning quarterbacks voicing and making these kinds of
comments.
Well, let me start by stating that if in fact somebody
cannot get a fair decision in our nation's capital, then we
have a much bigger problem, a problem which is not fixed by
simply ignoring it or not going back there for another 20
years or so. The problem and the issue has to be addressed.
It has to be addressed by the District of Columbia Boxing
Commission, as well as by the IBF and the WBA.
I refuse to believe that fighters cannot get a fair shake in
Washington, D.C. It's not fair to the great fans of
Washington, which came out in huge numbers and to the sport.
This is exactly why we have filed the appeal with the
Commission and with the two sanctioning organizations. They
have an opportunity and an obligation to do the right thing.
I sure hope that for the sake of the fans and the sport that
they will do the right thing, which is to overturn the
decision and, or order, at least, at worst, order an
immediate rematch. By the way, I got an update; we have
filed these appeals and we got an update for the IBF and the
WBA will order an appeal to happen in the beginning of
January, I think it's January 18th and 19th, uh, in New
York.
Now talking about doing the right thing. Lamont Peterson and
his team have an opportunity as well, to do the right thing.
They agreed after the fight that they would do a rematch.
They told the HBO announcers and fight fans around the world
that they have no problem doing the rematch next.
I personally talked to Team Peterson right after the fight
and Barry Hunter told me the same. No issues, no problem to
do the rematch, that it was a pleasure to work with us and
that they have no problem giving Amir the rematch. I
understand that, Lamont mentioned that to Amir as well, even
when they were sitting next, next, next to each other at the
hospital getting checked up after the fight.
I went immediately to work and was able to secure May 19th
from Staple Center in Los Angeles. Not in Washington, not in
the United Kingdom, on mutual grounds; a date, a date which
will give both fighters enough time to get ready and to do
it again. I talked to Team Peterson subsequently and made
them a seven figure offer and we are waiting to hear back
from them. Again, this will be a much anticipated fight,
this is the fight, fight fans, the boxing world sports fans
want to see, so let's get it done again.
Again, very, very important that, and very clear here, this
is not about sour grapes, it's not attacking Lamont Peterson
any way or shape, it comes back to like Lamont and his team,
there's nothing, we don't want to take anything away from
him, but have a setback, what we want is we want, we want
fairness and we believe that that's the right thing to do to
get the fight going again.
I'd like to hand it over now to Amir for any additional
comments and thoughts, and then we're going to open it up to
the media. Amir?
Amir Khan
Yes, thank you, Richard. You know I watched the fight and
I've seen a few things in the fight I wasn't happy about.
Well probably about five times I saw the fight and, there
are a lot of warnings in there and stuff and the head and
everything and I did tell the referee at times, well it
seemed to me that there was no one there to help me.
I'm not taking anything away from Lamont Peterson. He fought
a great performance and he was strong and he was, he put on,
you have to do what you do. You know he stuck to his game
plan and we spoke after the fight and him and his team were
very respectful. But I think I deserve a fair chance of a
fair fight somewhere neutral and I'm willing to come back to
the U.S. and put a fight on there, but never in Washington
again.
You know, I think it's just people that are going to be very
disappointed, especially the fans in Washington because we
brought the fight in the Capital, we brought boxing back
there with that performance, and with the unfair judging and
unfair referee. I think it just puts boxing on a low.
But, like I said, overall it was a great fight and I hope
Lamont Peterson does give me the rematch like he did say
he's going to give me, and the rematch I think I deserve
and, you know, I know definitely if the fight, if the fight
was judged and refereed fairly, I know I'll still be the
world champion and, you know, I really think I was just
judged unfairly.
I mean every time I watch the fight because the time in the
fight where you know about the referee making mistakes and
he's not on my side. But I mean you have to put these things
behind you and I just hope that the Commission and also the
IBF and the WBA will watch this and hopefully see my
complaint and they come back and hopefully fix all this. So
it's in the hands of the WBC.
I saw it over the air, and the IBF, and also the Commission,
so let's see where we go from there. And I'll go out and by
trying my very best to get this solved. Also my team have
been trying very very hard to get this sorted out. But you
know it's taking time and I'm just going to stay focused
and, you know, overall it was a great fight. I mean one of
the best fights of the year, and everywhere I've been going
and everywhere I've been going in England, everyone's been
saying I got robbed. Not even in England, but everywhere I
went in the Washington people were saying I got robbed even
his own fans.
They said look, there were people in Washington saying look,
you come to D.C. and we robbed you. You know, that's what
they're saying, but you know, end of the day all I want is a
fair fight. I mean, you know, I want a rematch just to prove
to the world I wasn't treated fairly and off we go from
there.
I'm sure Lamont Peterson has watched the fight as well and
he understands and now maybe that's the reason he's not
coming back and he's not returning calls to Golden Boy
Promotions about the rematch. But I think, you know, the IBF
and the WBA should order a rematch in my opinion, and also
look at the fight the way it was, the referee. So let's just
see where we go from here and overall it was a great
performance from Lamont Peterson also.
I mean I tried, I put on a good performance as well, we both
were, you know, we both were happy with it, the way we
fought and everything, but it was just the referee and the
judges who spoiled a great night of boxing. So, you know, I
don't know if there's going to be a fight in D.C. again. I
hope there is, because I hope they do fix the judging and
the referring, but let's just see where we go from there.
Q.
Now are you, are you seeking to have this overturned, or
would you want a rematch Richard?
Richard Schaefer
Well, I mean we believe that there are enough grounds to get
it overturned, that's our first priority. But as I said at
the very least, really there should be no, there shouldn't
even be a question about it; there shouldn't really be an
argument about it. An immediate rematch should be ordered.
Q.
Richard, did you find, I know the procedure with the IBF is
$10,000 and they go through an appeals process. What was the
process, what do you understand is the process with the WBA
you filed with them?
Richard Schaefer
Well it's similar, it's a little bit less money, but the
fact is appeals are expensive and if we wouldn't be as
convinced as we are that this is, there's really, it should
be a slam dunk. We obviously wouldn't go through that, but,
we are convinced it is, and yes, so with our appeals we did
enclose the appropriate fees, which you were correct, a
$10,000 in the case of the IBF and it's a little bit less in
case of the WBA.
Q.
Okay, a little bit less, huh? And you said you expect both
decisions, you've been notified that both decisions will be
completed? Did they give you an exact date in January?
Richard Schaefer
Well they have suggested as a matter of fact this morning,
the IBF did, January 19th as the date and so I will be
talking to the WBA. I talked to them yesterday and they were
actually suggesting to me to do the hearing in the beginning
of January in New York, so I'm going to be communicating the
dates that we can somehow do that during the same time when,
um, when the various parties are going to be on the East
Coast to take care of this.
Q.
And, if they do order the immediate rematch, will your offer
still stand to, Lamont the seven figures, or will that--?
Richard Schaefer
Well you know I mean we are honorable people. The Khan's are
very honorable people and so are we, so yes, we really hope
that we don't even have to go through lawyers and we can
just get this fight done; end of story. But it seems to me
that we have to go that route, we're prepared to go that
route. And, yes, we just, you know, we're treating people
right and I hope, I hope that the Peterson's will do the
same.
Q.
Have you gotten any cooperation or any feedback? Have you
been able to contact anybody with the D.C. Commission?
Richard Schaefer
We have filed the appropriate paperwork, we have not heard
back from them. Obviously this is as we saw that night, it
is not a very experienced Commission, and we are, our
attorneys are working on securing the date for the appeal
with them as well that we can be heard in front of them.
Q.
Yeah, can you talk about your emotions after the fight? I
know you were before the fight you really wanted to be at
D.C., you had the whole experience with Senator Clinton and
you were welcomed there. Obviously that night you were very
emotional and you said some things. Can you talk about just
the process of how you felt before the fight, how you felt
the night of the fight, and I have to ask; Glen McCrory, one
of the champions from England said that perhaps you
shouldn't have been as harsh with your comments and that
maybe since then, just about D.C. in general, you may have
thought differently about some of the things you said.
Amir Khan
Well, you know first of all, you know, before the fight we
were in good shape and we were very confident with the fight
and, you know, I wasn't looking too far ahead. I mean I was
just stick to it, you know, doing what I could do, I
listened to Freddy and everything and we were ready for the
fight. The fight happened. And we didn't get the decision
and everything, we were unhappy with the refereeing and the
way I was judged and all I wanted was a fair fight really.
And I thought being in the fight at D.C., it would bring
more bigger fights in D.C. D.C. hasn't had a big fight there
for such a long time I thought maybe this is a way, this
could be the time near where we can bring the big super
fights to D.C. now and the world of boxing will use D.C. as
a great venue because the fans were great, I mean, I met all
fans after the fight and they were so nice and they came
over to me and showed me a lot of respect and they're all
honest.
There's a lot of peace and fans that come over to me and
said to me, "Look, we know you won the fight but you know it
was one of them things you fought Peterson in his home
town." And I'm here to get a message to all the boxers who
are on the same level, I'm not going to mention no names,
and they've also said to me, "We're never going to fight in
D.C. If we ever get the option to fight in D.C. we'll never
go there and fight there because if this is what, if that's
what, if this is what happens in D.C., then we're not, we're
not going to go there." I think it's bad for boxing what
happened.
You know I'm not taking nothing away from Lamont Peterson,
but I think it's just bad for boxing what happened the way I
was judged and that's just going to put boxing, especially
in D.C. really really low. You know, no one will want to
fight there. I mean I wouldn't go back there again to fight
there because if you're not going to get treated fairly then
there's no point for fighting there. First of all, I'm
fighting away from home anyway, I'm fighting in America, and
even though I'm from England, I'm fighting for the fans even
to go to fight away from home and then get robbed, that's
what hurts more.
And people have a lot of respect for me to fight away from
home at such a young age and defending my world title and
everything. But when you fight someone in his home state you
think at least be fair. You know I've shown up with the
balls, I've shown the balls by going there and fighting him
there, so why not be fair? Just get me, you know, Golden
Boy, and my team have been great, they have just been,
speaking to the IBF to find a way to fix this because you
know I don't think it should happen in boxing. We want it to
be fair, we want to be fair in sport.
We want, boxing, I mean it's one of the biggest sports in
world, but we just want fair, we just want everyone to be
fair and we're not getting that, I mean, especially the
judging and the referee on that night, I think it was really
really bad. You know, everyone who saw the fight in the U.K.
were appalled. They were disgusted with the referee and the
judging and the, now, you know, that's only going to pop
people off boxing.
Q.
Wonderful. Richard, it seems like this is just the latest in
a series of incidents that we've seen in the sport this year
with questionable calls from referees and judges. I think
back to Amir's fight with Zab Judah in Vegas where Judah
complained. I think, of course to the Agbeko Mares fight in
Vegas with Russell Mora, the Hopkins Dawson fight in L.A,
the Ortiz Mayweather controversy and Pacquiao Marquez
decision. And now we've got Amir's situation in D.C.
Is this just a bigger thing than just that one night? Do you
think that sport, there's a sys, a systemic problem right
now in boxing throughout in terms of refereeing and judging?
Richard Schaefer
Well, I really think that maybe the time has come to have
the refereeing; the ref is an important part of the fight,
and I think if the ref is injecting himself too much into a
fight, and or doesn't have the proper training and
experience, it obviously is an issue because there's so much
at stake. So I do think that there is a lack of proper
training for referees and frankly for judges as well. And I
think that you're absolutely right.
I mean the whole year was a horrible year from an
officiating point of view and I think something has to done
about that. But at the very least, people have to be held
accountable for their actions and I refuse to say that to
believe even that this ref was corrupt, but what it is, is
people make mistakes. As I said, you saw at the Hopkins
Dawson fight, the ref acknowledged at the hearing that he
didn't see it; he had a chance now to review the tape and he
saw that he made the wrong call and he corrected it, you
know.
That is what should happen, and this is not about, all were
turning all the decisions or so, it is about doing the right
thing, you know, that like it was the case in other sports,
maybe instant replay should be introduced for some of the
questionable calls. And there's definitely going to have to
be something done to educate and further the officials and
refs and so you're absolutely right, I think it is part of
bigger picture. The IBF by the way, you mentioned Mares
Agbeko, uh, where some of those calls were missed as well;
the low blows--
Q.
They ordered a rematch.
Richard Schaefer
And they ordered a rematch and here it's clear again, I
don't have to walk you through it, but it was 14 or 15 times
that the ref actually warned Peterson for coming in low with
his head, the ref even went into Peterson's corner, I
mentioned it before, warned Barry Hunter, one more there's
going to be a point deduction for Peterson, well it never
happened. Peterson continued to do it and got away with it.
And, you know, in a way when you look at the Mares fight,
there were no warnings and Mares got away with it and he
kept on, you know, doing it because it didn't have any
consequences. So Peterson kept going in low with the head,
Amir had to push him off because the ref didn't do anything
about it.
And again, so I really would be shocked, and I mean you can
print shocked in capital letters if the IBF is not going to,
is going to be so inconsistent, but ordering a rematch for
Mares Agbeko just a couple of months ago and denying a
rematch of this fight. I mean I would be shocked and I would
seriously, and I mean you can put seriously in capital
letters as well, question the idea of what the hell is going
on.
Q.
Yes, because this whole thing with that scorecard
disappearing that night seems very suspicious at the very
least.
Richard Schaefer
Where there is smoke there is fire.
Q.
Yeah. Amir, if you don't get your rematch with Peterson,
what would be next, and you sound like someone who's not
going to be as willing to fight in the States given what has
happened to you. Who would you fight next and will you
insist the fight be held in the U.K. where you know you'll
get a fair shake?
Q.
Very quickly, Amir, in the event you don't get your rematch
with Peterson, who would you like to fight and would you be
willing to fight that person somewhere in the States whether
it's in Nevada or California or somewhere other than
Washington?
Amir Khan
You know, one thing I love fighting in the States, and my
previous fights in the States have been fairly fair. I've
had some performances, and this is just the one fight that I
was treated, and even if I was beaten, then I'd put my hand
up and I'd say yes, I was beaten.
But watching the video and everything and beating the fight,
I knew I was not beaten and I was treated unfairly. I was
complaining at the referee by being hit below the belt and
also, you know, being not treated right and getting the ref
was always just complaining of things I was doing, but not
complaining, not warning Lamont Peterson I mean, you know,
that just kind of hurt me because I thought, look at this,
you know, I'm the world champion who's traveling to just a
big entertainment to people's State and they're not giving
me the fair chance, you know, and not many people would do
what I'm doing by traveling from England.
I mean I could have all my career in England, but I choose
to travel and play in America, just all my fans and for
boxing, you know, to make boxing a bigger sport. But it's
just upsetting when you see these things happen because I'm
thinking, boy, it should never happen and especially what
the world of boxing got to see the fight on HBO and also Sky
TV.
But I'm sure they thought, wow, you know, is this really
boxing, I mean I'm getting Twitter messages, and other
messages everywhere I have been going and people are saying,
"Wow, we didn't think this happened in boxing." I mean, we
know it happens in other sports, but boxing is one sport we
thought was fair and it didn't look good for boxing.
Q.
Hi, I'm very well thank you, thank you. There's a question
for Richard first of all. You read out that list of the
warnings issued by Cooper to Peterson, I mean it sounds like
you have an annotated list of those warnings. Can you just
tell us who it was who sat down, and watched the tape and
made that list for you to present to the WB and IBF. Can you
just tell us who it was who did that?
Asif Vali
Yes, the full team from the U.K. have sat down and reviewed
the tapes. We, mostly studied it close over the last few
days. Amir himself has been away in London for the last few
days doing other stuff. When Amir comes back, he's on the
way back now, we're going to sit down with him straight
again and we're going to go through the list again to
clarify and confirm exactly what's happened. But the full
team sat down with it.
Q.
We had an understanding here that the IBF had already
rejected the appeal, but from what you're saying, that
doesn't seem to be the case.
Richard Schaefer
No that was not the official appeal. Basically we sent
immediately a letter to the sanction organizations informing
them that there will be an appeal and we asked them, we made
them aware of it, and the IBF came back very quickly within
a day and said that they initially just looked at the tapes
and they do not feel that anything is warranted to file an
appeal.
But, based on section 12 I believe, of the IBF rules and
regulations, you can file an appeal within ten days of the
bout and we had an official appeal, and so have filed this
official appeal and that official appeal will basically
trigger a very thorough review of the facts and the
surrounding of this decision and we will have an opportunity
to present that, obviously we have put it forward in
writing, be we will have an opportunity to present it to the
IBF on January 19th. And then they will make their decision
whether they will either overturn the result or order an
immediate rematch, or let the decision stand as it is. And
it's the same process with the WBA.
Q.
You touched on this a bit earlier but I want to get a
clarification. Are you saying you would not consider coming
back to D.C. based on the event that transpired on the 10th?
And how will this, if at all, impact your decision to fight
other challengers in their hometown?
Amir Khan
I mean, you know, yeah, you know, first of all I fought
other places like neutral venues. I think the best thing for
me is to find neutral venues. I mean this can always be hard
for me to fight, so I want to know even though you know I
fought Lamont Peterson in his home state I beat him and I
was against the referee, I was against the judging.
I think in boxing it's bad to have bad judging and bad
referees, it just looks so bad for the sport and, you know,
we don't want this because it's just making boxing look bad
and it's happened with me now and I've got friends all over
the world, people who understand boxing, people who don't
understand boxing, and even those who don't understand
boxing here I will not fight.
And it just puts down Washington, now I know why they didn't
have big event for the last 20 years. You know people are
afraid to go there, people are going to be afraid to go
there again. Now after seeing what happened with me, they're
going to be like why we should really stay away from that
place and we don't want that, we didn't want that to happen.
All we wanted was a fair fight. You know, be fair in boxing,
that's what it's all about, I want fair fights and I just
don't get the fair fight.
So, I think the world knows, even the press, you guys, and
the media, you've all, I'm sure you've all watched the fight
and you all know exactly who won the fight and how the fight
was. Now all I'm asking is for a rematch, a fair chance back
and a fight in neutral just for me to prove to the world of
boxing, now look, I clearly won that fight. And that's all I
want and, you know, again I mean it would be brilliant if
you can return the judging on me.
If we put ourselves in neutral judges and a referee to watch
the tape of the fight, I could guarantee you that they'll
have me the winner and then points won't be deducted. You
know, at the time I was complaining to the referee there was
nothing happening with that. I mean the time when the
referee told me, when he says 'Khan you should take a step
back,' which are in the rules, and box on, but they lost
their taken and Lamont's head was going in there - I know if
that was me doing the head thing I would have been
disqualified. That's how I feel.
So, you know, it's just one of those things, I just really
think I was treated unfairly. That's the reason we are
putting this complaint in because I know if I lost the fight
then I would not complain and make myself look stupid. But
because I know I won the fight and I'm so confident that IBF
and WBA can do something about this, and they can change
around, that's the reason we're doing this, because I think
it's hurt in boxing when things are happening.
Richard Schaefer
Yeah, and I just want to add to that I think, you know, it
is yes, IBF and WBA, but I really think the Washington
Commission needs to do something about that as well, Gene,
because it doesn't look right. And it doesn't look right
that I was told through my sources that the Petersons met
with the mayor of Washington this past week, and talked
about doing a potential other fight in Washington. It just
doesn't look good. It doesn't look good and I really don't
want to dig deeper here because I really don't want to, but
what I want is, and what I request, what I will fight for,
that the truth come out and the record will be set straight.
And the easiest way to set the record straight is let's just
do it again.
Q.
How will this at all impact your decision to bring Golden
Boy fights to D.C. again?
Richard Schaefer
Well, you know I have to tell you, we are promoting some of
the best young talent in Washington, and I want to come back
to Washington. I think saying that, "Hey you can't, you
can't go to Washington because these people don't know what
they're doing and there is like, you know, there is, you
know, there's no way to go to Washington to get a fair
decision." I think as I said in my opening remarks, that's
just very unfair to the fight fans and the sports fans of
Washington. And it is in the control of the Commission, of
the Washington Commission to do something about that, just
like the California Commission did.
You know I mentioned that we're going to come back here to
California with Amir's next fight, but you know what, the
Commission here in California, again the ref made the
mistake, but you know what, it was corrected. And that is
what this is all about. If something wrong happens, people
should have an opportunity to do the right thing. And as I
said, the WBA, the IBF, and the Washington Commission have
an opportunity to do the right thing and I hope and - are
not going to do the right thing, if they're not going to do
the right thing, then I have to tell you, you're putting
your fighters at risk to go to Washington, and I don't want
to do that. That's not right.
Amir Khan
And I'm sad also, you know, I really think even if the
referees or the judges do change and look back and change
decision, I think they'll get a lot more respect than not
doing anything about it because it just shows that they have
to do something about this situation because the situation
on the world knows. I mean you can't hide what's happened
over the last weekend of the fight between me and Lamont
Peterson. It cannot be hidden and we all saw the fight,
everyone saw the fight and everyone had their own opinions.
So I think the Commission, and also the referee will have
more, get more respect and also in Washington D.C. there
will be more fights if that in my opinion is to change
because people think, okay fine, they made a mistake and
they've changed and they're going to learn from their
mistakes and not do that again.
Richard Schaefer
Okay. You know, sorry, I wouldn't go as far as, or maybe I
should go as far because I got a funny email today from Dan
Rafael from ESPN and he said that some people, some fans
have created a Facebook page called Joe Cooper Should be
Banned for Five Years. I think the reason why I'm saying
that, there is a true outrage out there about the
refereeing. You know, nobody is attacking Lamont Peterson
here. Nobody is saying that he did anything wrong, but
there's a clear outrage against the officiating and
something has to be done about it.
Q.
If the fight were to be overturned, what would be the
decision? Would it be a no contest?
Richard Schaefer
Well, I will leave that decision up to the, up to the
sanctioning organizations and, if they would rule this as a
no contest or a draw or whatever it would be, but I think it
probably, or if it would be, or if the fight would be
awarded to Amir. I think there are different scenarios here
and we have outlined the scenarios to the sanction
organizations in our appeal and we'll leave it up to them.
So what decision they're going to take, it's in their hands
now. We stated our case and as I said, I hope they're going
to do the right thing.
Q.
Do you feel that the outcome of the fight was a result of
Lamont Peterson being from Washington D.C., or is it just a
Washington D.C. thing in general?
Richard Schaefer
Well, I mean I think it's probably the two of them are
probably connected to each other. But I think what it is, it
was an absolutely poor officiating job and either the
referee just wasn't up to speed and up to par and he made
close calls. And at this point he doesn't know the rules and
regulations, or it could be something else.
But as I said, I don't want to go there, I want to give the
referee an opportunity and I believe that if the referee is
going to in fact review the tape himself, he's going to see
that these point deductions were not warranted and that if
he's taking points away that he should have been consistent
and done the same for Peterson.
And I do hope, just like it was here in California, the ref
will review the tape and come to the right conclusion and
will give his recommendation to the District of Columbia
Commission. That's what I hope for and I really don't want
to go and speculate what else could have been or what other
forces were behind it, or whatever, because that doesn't
bring us anywhere.
Q.
Congratulations on a great performance and thank you for
putting on one hell of a fight. My question is, in case the
immediate rematch does not happen, and let's say it takes
place further down the road, is there a possibility that
that rematch could take place at 147 and if so is that
something you're okay with?
Amir Khan
Well you know in the best case, we would like a rematch as
soon as possible because I want my title back and I want to
prove to the boxing fans out there that where the real
champion is. And if he wants to fight one fight and then me,
I will fight this division and we'll go fight again in the
140 division and then the 147 division. You know one thing
about me, I've never said no to an opponent, I've always not
turned anyone away.
I fight whoever they put in front of me and it just shows
what type of guy I am, I will fight people in their own
backyard because I'm not afraid of fighting them. All I want
is a fair chance and you know if I had a fair chance on the
last fight, I definitely would have won that fight, and it's
just one of the things, I mean I wasn't treated right and
even the fans in D.C. said that I clearly won the fight. I
don't know what the referee was watching, he was on one side
and he was not being on my side, in my opinion.
Q.
Did it almost strike you that you actually might lose from
your point of view and from the point of view most? Did you
think about that in the ring and sort it out properly?
Amir Khan
No, you just want to have a fight. I mean we trained so
hard, both fighters. I'm not taking anything away from
Lamont. We trained very very hard. We just hope for that one
night we put everything into this fight, and we just want to
be treated fairly.
I know Lamont Peterson trained very hard for the fight. He
boxed really well, he had a good game-plan and everything,
but the referee in a way, stole that fight from me. And if I
had lost fair and square I would have put my hand up and
said fine, he beat me, he was the better fighter of the
night, but I don't think he did that. It's all about now
just let's see hopefully they can watch the fight again, the
Commission, and they do come back with the right vision.
Q.
Can you just tell me about this master scorecard thing,
because that seems like quite an important part of your case
that you presented there and certainly something that you're
very interested about.
Richard Schaefer
Yes, absolutely. We obviously do feel that there's clearly
some questions surrounding the scorecards really can't
explain why. As I said, Michael Walsh, the WBA Supervisor,
Certified Public Account and CPA by profession, very adapt
working with numbers, why, and has done that many times
before in that same position, why his scorecard was
different than the one from the Commission, and the IBF
scorecard going missing.
I mean it obviously does raise I think more than a few
eyebrows. You just look at everything from the scoring to
the point deductions from Amir, to the inconsistency from
the ref by not deducting any points from Peterson, even
though he has warned him 14 times or so, and you look at all
of this, I think that is why we are on this call. And I am
not one who takes these lightly, because I believe going to
cry foul is not really in the best interest of the sport
either.
But what is in the best interest, not just of the sport and
of anything is when you have been done wrong you have to
stand up. You cannot just do nothing about it. This is what
this is about. And let me just that Lamont Peterson is a
great fighter. He has tremendous heart, he has tremendous
courage, everything that he's overcome to earn that spot,
that job. My hat goes off to Lamont Peterson. He's a great,
great fighter.
And you saw that when he fought Victor Ortiz. When Victor
knocked him down and he came up. He has the heart and the
courage to never give up. And I applaud him for that. And I
really applaud him as well to have agreed to do the rematch,
and I do believe that Lamont Peterson at the end of the day
it's not going to be Barry Hunter or his team, or whatever.
It is going to be Lamont Peterson who is going to have to go
to his team and tell them, you know what? What is right is
right. The right thing is that we're going to do it again.
That is what this call is about.
Richard Schaefer Thank you to all the media members and I'm
going to be forum and we're going to close the call I'm
going to give it to Amir to say the final words, but to all
my friends from the British media, to all my friends from
the U.S. media, I wish you all a very happy holiday season.
Enjoy the time off, we're going to have an exciting start to
2012. Enjoy the time with your family and I really
appreciate your continued support of the sport of boxing.
Thank you, thank you very much. Amir?
Amir Khan Yes, thanks. Just thank you very much for all of
your support guys and hopefully we can get this resolved.
And thanks for calling on the conference to the U.S. media
and also the U.K. media and have a good Merry Christmas and
happy New Years guys and hopefully we'll see you in 2012.
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