Amir Khan's ringside invite to Obama and Clinton

Briton wants the US president and secretary of state to attend his fight in Washington DC on December 10.

Amir Khan, right, puts his titles on the line against Lamont Peterson in Washington DC, the challenger's hometown. Khan wants to push this fight by asking the US president Barack Obama to attend at ringside.Show less

LONDON // Amir Khan is determined to make Barack Obama, the US president, and Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, ringside spectators for his upcoming fight against Lamont Peterson in Washington DC in December.

Khan visited the White House on the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks and met Clinton.

Khan said he would be delighted if she and Obama were ringside at the fight and will soon put a plan together that he hopes will make it happen.

"I am going to get my manager to draft a letter up and send it to them [Clinton and Obama]," Khan told Press Association Sport.

"They will be interested in this fight because it's been 20 years since they had a big fight in Washington. Maybe they would be interested in coming. It would be amazing if I could get them down. It would be massive."

Khan announced yesterday that he will defend his WBA and IBF light-welterweight titles against Peterson at the US capital's Convention Center on December 10.

While the promoters at yesterday's press conference in London may have been keen to talk up the fight, Khan fans instead long to see their favourite fighter take on Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Boxing will have to wait until next summer to see the Mayweather fight happen, but the 24-year-old's bout against Peterson could be about to receive a boost in profile if Obama agreed to attend.

For Peterson, who hails from the city, their attendance would also give the night an added sense of importance.

"It would be really nice if the President came," Peterson said.

"That would motivate me a little bit more to do my best when I am in the ring."

HBO will screen December's fight in the US but it is yet to be decided which television platform will screen the contest in Britain.

Peterson will provide Khan with a test in his home city, but if he can repeat the same kind of form that saw him see off Zab Judah in July, Khan should breeze to victory in the fight.

Golden Boy promotions, who handle Khan's Stateside operations, think the fight will be a big hit despite it lacking the fireworks that Khan-Mayweather will provide if that fight goes ahead next year.

"The card will contain lots of New York fighters and prices will be very reasonable," Richard Schaefer, the Golden Boy chief executive, said.

"We looked at some venues that were about 5,000 but we wanted something much bigger than that. We do anticipate a 12,00 sell out. It's the biggest night of boxing in Washington DC in about 15 years."