Vegas showdown for Khan, Peterson

American Lamont Peterson has accepted a re-match with England's Amir Khan with their fight to be staged on May 19 in Las Vegas.

The pair fought last December with Peterson winning a split points decision in a fight shrouded with controversy.

The 25-year-old Khan pointed to irregularities on the scorecards and a suspicious man ringside as to reasons for his loss and although the World Boxing Association (WBA) ordered a rematch, the Bolton-born fighter eventually dropped his appeal to the International Boxing Federation (IBF).

The re-match will give Khan the chance to reclaim his WBA and IBF light-welterweight titles he lost in Washington.

"Lamont signed a letter of agreement as of today to do a re-match with Amir Khan to be televised live on HBO," Peterson's publicist Andre Johnson told US media outlets.

"This came after some long and careful consideration by Lamont and Team Peterson."

"Lamont had weighed every option available to him - some public and some private. There were several options available to us in terms of fights and directions that Lamont could have taken."

"But at the end of the day, this made the most sense on every level across the board."

Khan immediately responded on Twitter once the news was broken.

"The belts will be coming home," he posted on the social media website.

The fight will take place at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas.