Boxing's Mr Mystery speaks out

Mystery man latest:

The mystery man sporting a hat who was seen ‘distracting judges’ at Amir Khan’s ­controversial world-title ­defeat has been named as Mustafa Ameen.
Little-known Ameen works for the International Boxing Federation. The World Boxing Authority – which, together with the IBF, co-sanctioned Khan’s bout last month with Lamont Peterson in Washington – called for a ­re-match and announced an inquiry into Ameen’s behaviour at the ringside.

Khan used his Twitter ­account to post a series of images of a mystery man slipping into a seat alongside the judges and seemingly ­handling a score card. Defending himself on ­Facebook last night, Ameen said: “So you are questioning if I did something to harm my Muslim brother? May almighty Allah protect me from what you and the rest of you assert. Don’t make assumptions based on allegations.”

Richard Schaefer, boss of Khan’s promoters Golden Boy, said: “The IBF has confirmed to us that ... Mustafa Ameen ... is involved in an official ­capacity with the IBF. He was not in Washington in an official IBF capacity, but the IBF asked the Washington commission to issue him a credential so that he could ­attend the fight. We have been informed by the WBA that they will order an­ ­immediate rematch.”

A strange incident for sure. This is today's development:

"The 'mystery man' accused by Amir Khan of interfering with judges' scorecards in his world title defeat by Lamont Peterson helps the International Boxing Federation assist financially needy boxers, the organisation said on Tuesday. The IBF, however, said Mustafa Ameen, seen in video footage at ringside of last month's controversial title fight, was not an IBF employee or official, but they had asked the local boxing commission to arrange a credential to the bout for him."

Mr Mystery kept insisting that he hadn't done anything wrong.

But failed to say what he was doing at the ringside and what he was saying to the judges.

(11-01-2012 12:28 )Charlemagne Wrote:  But failed to say what he was doing at the ringside and what he was saying to the judges.

Exactly. The WBA have ordered a rematch anyway. The IBF are due to make a statement tomorrow.

It appears that Amir Khan has got his wish and the rematch with Lamont Peterson is on. Peterson is reported to have signed an agreement to commit himself to taking the fight.

The date is set now. Lamont Peterson and Amir Khan will meet in a rematch in Las Vegas on 19 May.

This fight makes sense. It's what the public want to see happen, which makes it clearly the best fight to take for both Khan and Peterson - even if the WBA hadn't ordered a rematch.

Well the fight's off now, only 10 days before it was due to take place, after Lamont Peterson failed a drugs test. Amir Khan has said he's looking for a new opponent and hopes to fight in June.

Amir Khan will fight WBC light-welterweight champion Danny Garcia in a title contest on 14 July. Khan is still waiting to find out whether or not he will be given back the belts he lost in the controversial defeat to the currently banned Lamont Peterson.

With all the talk about the Haye-Chisora fight, let's not overlook the Khan-Garcia fight tonight, which unlike Haye-Chisora is a title fight (for both the WBA and the WBC light welterweight titles).