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Dan Rafael of ESPN.com reports this evening that Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer is holding the Staples Center in Los Angeles for May 19, hoping to stage the rematch between Lamont Peterson and Amir Khan. Peterson has been given the offer for that date.
Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO) scored a huge upset of Khan (26-2, 18 KO) on Saturday night at home in Washington, DC, and earlier Team Khan said they were hoping to lock down a rematch in Las Vegas on March 31, but that doesn't appear to be the target anymore.
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To be perfectly frank, Staples Center is a pretty lousy choice if the idea is to draw fans. The area has not shown much passion lately for big cards, as the Hopkins-Dawson show on October 15 tanked, and the Anaheim rematch between Abner Mares and Joseph Agbeko died a miserable death at the gate.
Surely, this is the target because Golden Boy are familiar with the commission, with the officials in the state, and they're sure that Khan will not be subject to the alleged injustice he met on Saturday at the point-taking hands of referee Joe Cooper. Los Angeles is their backyard. A gate return may not having anything to do with the idea to go to Los Angeles.
To be very clear, I'm not accusing California of Golden Boy bias here, just saying that they feel as though they can trust California to be more fair than they believe DC was to Amir Khan. They're looking for an advantage here, I believe, but it's nothing any promoter wouldn't be doing in this situation. Khan and Golden Boy still have some power in the negotiations here, because the rematch is likely the biggest fight Peterson can get, and they're going to try to use it.