Kotelnik Looking to Knock Out Khan – News

By Jason Kim: World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik (31-2-1, 13 KO’s) is looking to make a statement when he fights challenger Amir Khan (20-1, 15 KO’s) and wants to knock him out like Ukrainian Kotelnik’s countrymen Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko typically do with their opponents. Kotelnik, 31, will be facing the 22-year-old Khan next weekend on July 18th at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester, England.

Kotelnik wants to jump all over Khan early in the fight and try to take him out like Breidis Prescott did last year. Khan, a fighter with a history of having a tender chin, will no doubt be looking to stay on the move early in the fight to avoid this very thing from happening.

Kotelnik sees the Klitschko brothers as two of his hero’s in the boxing world, and wants to emulate what they’ve accomplished by knocking Khan out. Apparently, Kotelnik has been looking closely at video of the Klitschko brothers to learn the secrets of why they punch so hard, and, he says, that he has understands why they punch as hard as they do.

Kotelnik will try to use this knowledge to flatten Khan next week. However, it’s one thing to see the Klitschko brothers fight and know how they’re punching, but it’s quite another thing to get the same results. Kotelnik seems to be forgetting that the reason why the Klitschko’s are so good at knocking out their opponents is because of a combination of their huge height, reach and natural power.

Both of them were born with a lot of ingrain strength, and when you mix in the leverage that they can get because of their huge frames, it’s no wonder why they knock out so many of their opponents. Additionally, because of their height and reach, they’re able to pond away at their opponents from long distance without getting hit back.

This helps them stay in the fight long enough to score a knockout whether on cuts or an outright knockout. It helps when they’re not getting hit, because they essentially demoralize they’re opponents. In contrast, Kotelnik is an average sized light welterweight at only 5’7 ½” and doesn’t have a lot of reach or power like the Klitschko brothers. Kotelnik only has 13 knockouts during his long career and only two knockouts in his last fifteen fights.

At 31, it’s doubtful that Kotelnik will be able to discover any new power even if he imitates the Klitschko brothers with perfection. But then again, with Khan’s glass jaw, Kotelnik might not need a lot of power to get him out of there. Khan has been dropped by several feather-fisted fighters since turning pro in 2005, and Kotelnik hits as hard as them.

Khan, who is moving up from the lightweight division to take this fight, won’t have to work his way into a title shot against Kotelnik, which is lucky for Khan, because there’s a high chance that his chin wouldn’t hold out for long against light welterweight contenders like Marcos Maidana or Victor Ortiz, both of whom are ranked above Khan in the light welterweight division.

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