• Amir Khan controversy

Khan camp withdraw Peterson appeal

Amir Khan lost his light-welterweight belts to Lamont Peterson © Getty Images

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Amir Khan's management company have withdrawn their appeal against his controversial defeat to Lamont Peterson - a matter of hours before the hearing was due to start.

The hearing was scheduled to take place in New Jersey on Wednesday, but the IBF were informed by Golden Boy Promotions that they no longer wanted to press ahead with the appeal.

An statement from IBF public relations director Jeanette Salazar said: "I just wanted to advise you that at approximately 4:50 PM, EST, the IBF received notice that Golden Boy Promotions withdrew their appeal of the Khan-Peterson bout.

"The hearing that was scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday,1/18) has been cancelled.

"We have not received any further information on this decision by Golden Boy Promotions."

Khan suffered a points defeat to Peterson in Washington in December and has complained bitterly about the outcome.

The Brit's camp questioned referee Joe Cooper's decision to deduct two points, while he recently highlighted the presence of 'mystery man' Mustafa Ameen at ringside.

In the hours prior to the hearing, Khan had spoken to his supporters on social media sites - claiming he was looking forward to having some questions answered.

But the appeal was withdrawn later on Tuesday, with the camp claiming they feared a one-sided hearing.

A statement from Golden Boy read: "Due to the fact that there was only to be partial representation of fight officials who were involved with the December 10, 2011 Amir Khan v Lamont Peterson bout at tomorrow's scheduled appeal hearing of the fight's outcome before the International Boxing Federation, Golden Boy Promotions and Team Khan have decided to withdraw their appeal and focus their full attention on Amir's next fight."

Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer went on to tell ringtv.com: "You have certain officials who were going to be there telling their side of the story, and you have others which were not going to be there.

"I think that the bottom line is that that would result in a one-sided story, and I have shared my views on this particular subject with the IBF president Daryl Peoples a couple of weeks ago.

"I told him that if he was in fact going to have certain people there, and others not, then that does not sound to me as if there was a fully transparent meeting because only part of the story was going to be told.

"So I do not see any reason to participate in such a process. That's basically what it is."

The WBA had already granted Khan a rematch, but it now remains to be seen what stance is taken by the IBF and how the two parties move forward.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.