Khan-Kotelnik: Andriy Worried about Getting a Fair Deal from The Judges

By William Mackay: Having had bad experiences on two other occasions when fighting in Great Britain, World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik (31-2-1, 13 KO’s) is naturally apprehensive about fighting there and putting his title on the line against British fighter Amir Khan (20-1, 15 KO’s) this Saturday night at the M.E.N. arena, in Manchester, England.

Kotelnik, 31, is asking the judges to be fair when they score the fight. Kotelnik got a raw deal in fight with Souleymane M’baye in 2007, a fight that took place in Liverpool, England and resulted in a 12-round draw. I’ve seen the fight several times and the closest I can score the fight is nine rounds to three for Kotelnik.

It was a total domination and nothing close about the fight. Again, Kotelnik suffered a questionable decision loss to Junior Witter in 2005, losing by a close decision on two of the judges’ scorecards and losing by a wide margin of 117-111 on the third judges’ card.

For this article, I sat through the fight and I scored it seven rounds to five for Kotelnik, and was being generous by giving a couple of close rounds to Witter because of the loud crowd noise for the fight in Nottingham. The British crowd was screaming each time that Witter would land a shot, making it seem that he was doing much more than he actually was in the fight.

Luckily for Kotelnik, this Saturday night none of the judges will be from England, so in theory he should be okay if the fight ends up being closely contested. Kotelnik doesn’t have a lot of respect for Khan, saying that Witter is a better fighter than him. Kotelnik points out that Witter has accomplished much more in his career than Khan, who he feels has a big mouth.

However, this being boxing, sometimes it’s not how good a fighter is or who they’ve fought that creates interest in a fight. It’s more about the perception about them and showmanship, and Khan is definitely a star out of the boxing ring.

It will be up to him to prove that he has the boxing skills, chin and power to get the job done in the ring as well. Khan, 22, is counting on winning this fight and using it as a leaping off point for a bout with former light welterweight champion Ricky Hatton.

It’s a fight that the British and American public would very much like to see, but Khan has to first get by Kotelnik to make it happen. Khan is favored in many boxing circles to get the win over Kotelnik. However, Khan hasn’t yet proven that he can beat the top fighters in the sport as of yet because of the mostly soft opponents that he’s been steered towards in his career.

Even Kotelnik, a weak puncher and not considered to be close to the best fighter in the light welterweight division, appears to have been selected because of his weak power. If Khan was trying to make a mark, he would have gone after contender Marcus Maidana or World Boxing Organization light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley instead. The fact that Khan didn’t is really telling.

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