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Lamont Peterson and manager/trainer Barry Hunter are weighing their options on whether to rematch Amir Khan next, or face Juan Manuel Marquez in Top Rank's mini-tournament, which could set up a lucrative bout later this year with Manny Pacquiao.
Richard Schaefer told RingTV.com on Saturday that they've offered Peterson a big deal for a rematch with Khan:
"We're working on some very good stuff. We did what we could to make it happen. We offered him $1.5 million and we offered him a 50-50 split of world wide revenues. If he doesn't want to do it, then he doesn't want to do it. You can't force them."
It would be, by far, a career-best payday for Peterson, who earned $650,000 and no 50-50 split of worldwide revenue (which would include Khan's lucrative UK TV contract with Sky Sports and other international TV).
But Peterson and Hunter have been reluctant to gravitate toward the rematch, in part because they refuse to be bullied by Golden Boy Promotions. Peterson is a modern boxing version of a lone wolf, a man without a promoter, though that may change if he goes the other route.
A fight with Marquez, says Bob Arum, has been agreed to on one side:
"I told Barry that we would talk again on Monday," said Arum. "But Marquez already has agreed to the fight."
Either way, it's looking like Peterson will make one of the two fights soon enough. Either could happen in April or May, and either fight would be very attractive to HBO. There is also an off-chance that Top Rank, should their side land Peterson to face Marquez, would actually give us a truly significant undercard fight on the Manny Pacquiao PPV coming on June 9. Wouldn't that be something?