Khan-Kotelnik: Amir’s Career on the Line
July 1st, 2009
By Scott Gilfoid: After seeing Marco Maidana make quick work of Victor Ortiz last weekend, I now have a bad feeling about Amir Khan’s chances of beating WBA light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik in their bout on July 18th at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester. Kotelnik, 31, fought Maidana very tough for 12 rounds, taking his best shots and firing back good combinations of his own.
Looking at the 22-year-old Khan’s previous fights since turning pro in 2005, I can’t see anything there that would suggest that he’s good enough to beat the likes of Kotelnik. What I do see is that Khan has been brought along very carefully against the softest of opponents, aside from his bout with the Colombian Breidis Prescott, who knocked Khan flat in a 1st round KO in 2008.
Khan’s other opponents, including Marco Antonio Barrera, have been nothing special and have served the purpose of being props for Khan to look good against. I can’t blame Khan’s promoter for wanting to finally push him out of the nest somewhat by matching him against Kotelnik, because after all this is a business and Khan can’t continue to fight over 2nd tier fighters for the remainder of his career without boxing fans catching on and turning their backs on him.
Khan has already lost a great deal of fans with his loss to Prescott last year. Khan could have won many of them back had he chosen to go after Prescott to try and avenge the loss. He hasn’t, though, and has stayed far away from Prescott, instead fighting a fighter by the name of Osin Fagan, and then the shot Barrera earlier this year.
When Khan needed to be brought up a rung, he was kept in soft after his loss to Prescott. Now, Khan finds himself on the world stage against an opponent in Kotelnik that Khan looks to be over-matched against. It isn’t that Khan doesn’t have the better hand speed or power, because he certainly has the advantages in those two departments.
However, he doesn’t have the chin or the history of having to battle long and hard to get a win. Only twice in his career Khan has had to fight 10 rounds or more, with the first occurring with his win over the mediocre Rachid Drilzane, who Khan beat by a 10 round decision in December 2006 in a one-sided fight.
In Khan’s other fight that went past 10, he defeated Gary St. Claire by 12-round decision in February 2008. That fight was also totally one-sided with Khan rarely getting hit by the short, 5’4” St. Claire who was giving up six inches in height and five inches in reach to the much taller Khan.
Against Kotelnik, Khan will have a 2 ½” height advantage, which won’t be enough to keep Amir from getting hit. This fight will likely go past 10, but I think Khan will end up taking a lot of punishment in the fight and end up getting stopped.
This won’t be one of his easy opponents that are too short, too slow and too crappy to throw punches back at him. Khan will be getting hit a lot, and Freddie Roach won’t be able to do a thing about it other than to tell Khan to stay on the move the whole time.
Khan won’t be able to move enough to prevent getting beaten down in this fight, and I see Amir getting knocked out by the 10th. If it does go the full distance, Khan will lose by a decision. Of course, since the fight is being held in England, you never really know.
Tags: 14 Responses to “Khan-Kotelnik: Amir’s Career on the Line”
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this fight is more about frank warren than anything else , it’s about hype and good mattchmaking , khan is very talented , freddie roach would not have taken him on otherwise , they have been working on khan’s jab and his defence , however he is never going to be durable or heavy handed , how all the people around him must wish he had carl froch’s whisker’s ! now there is a chin
! ! think khan will beat kotelnik just, on points but if he does the big boys will start to gather , warren can’t protect him for ever
a repeat of prescott fight
khan by ref stoppoage
omg a scot gildfoid article that does not slag off ricky hatton, very well done scott well done.
aff this reply is for you,p4p status in the not too distant future? u clearlry no absolutely not one thing about boxing.
i respect fighters for what they do in the ring,the likes of hatton in taking huge fights that are beyond his reach,nevr the less he isnt afraid to take them.
the likes of miguel cotto who will fight the toughest ppl in his division without thinking about it twice.
now on the other hand the glass jawed bum a.k.a amir khan,has no titles(worth mentioning)beaten no world champions and fought absolute nobodies,been carried by matching him against total no hopers in a bid to keep the gravy train going is a joke.
khan is fast,yes,khan is good going forward,yes,but khan cannot take punch at all,he was wobbled by a fukn jab by prescott,a jab.
when khan was matched with prescott i believe he was number 2 ranked on the wbo list of lightweight fighters,now prescott the huge underdog was ranked 76 on that list,it was another attempt by wank warren to get him a bum,but the bum smashed khans glass jaw and exposed the fact that he just can not take a punch.
now p4p is a mythical title bestowed to the individual who is the best in all the divisons,the man who jumps through weight classes(pacman…world champ in 5 divisions) and reguardless of who he is facing wins against all the odds.
the fact that a clown like yourself would mention khans name next to p4p staus is in itself rvealing that you know not a single thing about the sport and a tremendous insult to boxing.
khan is not an elite fighter,nor will he ever aspire to within an asses roar of p4p status,nor will he ever compete with the best because he is a total bum.
now for anybody else who will come up with an excuse to rubbish what im sayin….
1. i am not a racist
2.i have no problem with english fighters
get real folks khan is an ok boy,he will never be great nor achieve anything close to what hatton or calzaghe has,it may not be kotelnik who beats him,but sooner or later somebody is actually going to puch khan ok….and khan will be exposed to what anybody who knows anything about boxing already knows,hes a glass jawed bum.
Khans high guard, quick feet and flashy-fast combinations will be too much for kotelnik. Khan to win UD after 12 rounds.
If this article was written by anyone else it would come across as reasonably well balanced. I agree it has merit but we must take into consideration Gifford’s pathological hatred of British fighters as he gives himself away with his comment” since the fight is being held in England, you never really know.”
exactly since the fight is being held in england expect a really dodgy decision. kotelnik will have to ko amir to beat him over here. the only thing kotelnik will struggle with will be the speed of amirs punches….and even then he may well walk through whatever khan throws at him.
I think Khan will win but he is looking past Kotelnik @ hopeful fights with Marquez and Hatton, the thing is he has done nothing to earn the shot he is getting let alone fights with big names.
To earn a shot first you must fight the best domestic names out there,
Calzaghe/Mark Delaney
Hatton/Jon Thaxton
Froch/Brian Magee
Khans avoided Thaxton and Murray and spouted bullshit about them avoiding him, Paper champion or what
I think Khan will win this fight but if he was to loose this would not be the end, they would have to slightly build him back up again perhaps go for a british title then a comonwealth reign and then europe
khan is a lot quicker than victor ortiz. and khan had already experienced getting hit with a lucky punch.
i’m sure roach and khan know what to do. ortiz should’ve boxed his way around maidana. khan will box his way to a win.
fk the haters khan will demolsh the champ and rip the belt off him,these khan articles are getting a bit boring especially as they are always anti khan if he is as shit as u say why the fk do u lot write an article on him/answer cause ur fkn haters,youll always hate khan whatever the fk he acheives ,which by the way is p4p status in the not to distant future
khan will b 2 fast end off
hey scott
have you ever written anything good about a british boxer?
I dont mind your articles an even an adverse opinion, but come on mate, dish out some credit where its due too!!
Khans no world beater, and I admit Hatton was ‘limited’ but give them credit too for what they actually do in the ring ffs, its a hard enough business for boxers without you spouting crap