Khan will have an opportunity to earn revenge.

Amir “King” Khan told fighthype.com on Thursday that he will not veer from his strategy during his May 19 rematch against IBF and WBA world light welterweight champion Lamont “Havoc” Peterson at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Khan (26-2, 18 KOs) relinquished his belts to Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KOs) on a controversial split decision loss in December at the Convention Center in “Havoc’s” hometown of Washington, D.C.

“King Khan,” a Pakistani-British boxer who at 17 became the youngest Englishman to win an Olympic medal when he captured a silver as a lightweight at the 2004 games in Greece, vowed to try and emulate WBC welterweight titlist “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather and WBO world welterweight king Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao.

“I think we got too brave. I think the best thing we do now is to go back to what we do best,” said Khan, 25. “I mean, look at the likes of Mayweather, Pacquiao – they always stick to what they know best and that’s where they get their success from.”

Khan, who prior to the defeat had triumphed in six consecutive matches, consistently forced the action against Peterson and scored the only knockdown of the bout with little time remaining in the first round.

“That’s the best ever performance he put on, so for him to do another one like that, I can’t see him doing that because I still think it took a lot out of him, the last fight, and we did take a lot out of him with the punishment he took in our last fight. He will never be the same fighter again,” Khan said. “I now know he can’t hurt me. He’s not got the punching power to knock me out, so I really think that’s on my side, and I know I’ve got the power to hurt him.”

During his initial tussle with Peterson, Khan contended he was sandbagged by referee Joe Cooper who deducted two points from the erstwhile titleholder for pushing in the seventh and 12th rounds.

A few weeks following the suspect prizefight, the WBA officially ordered “Havoc” to again fistfight “King Khan.”

Roger “Pit” Perron is a respected boxing trainer from Brockton (Mass.) who now works with Mike and Rich Cappiello at their gym, Cappiello Brothers Boxing and Training.

Perron has adamantly voiced his opinion that Khan was shafted.

“Amir Khan got mugged,” said Perron, 75, who helped work with Marvelous Marvin Hagler in the 1980s. “Without those two point deductions, Khan was an easy winner. There will be a rematch. But, not in D.C. and Khan will destroy him.”

Peterson, 28, who for several years as a child lived parentless and homeless in the streets of the U.S. capital, is an extremely competent pugilist who has not been overcome since he suffered a unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Timothy Bradley in December 2009.

Khan is nowhere near “the likes of Mayweather, Pacquiao.”

Nevertheless, Amir Khan does have “the power to hurt” Lamont Peterson and he will vacate the squared circle in “Sin City” victorious approximately a month from this evening.

by