Weigh-In: Khan 139.6, Kotelnik 140

At today’s weigh-in for the WBA light welterweight clash between champion Andriy Kotelnik and British challenger Amir Khan, the Ukrainian Kotelnik came in right at the light welterweight limit of 140. For his part, Khan came in just under the limit at 139.6. The fight will take place at the M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England.

Khan, 22, is moving up in weight in an attempt to grab a belt. Had Khan stayed at lightweight, his chances at getting a title shot were limited and would have taken at least a year before he would get a shot. Khan says that the new light welterweight class makes him a much stronger and faster fighter than he was at lightweight, because he doesn’t have to strip off weight anymore to make the 135 pound lightweight limit.

Khan is hoping that a victory over Kotelnik will push him into super star status in the boxing world. Khan hopes to line up a fight with recently defeated Ricky Hatton next. Failing that, Khan would also like to fight Floyd Mayweather, Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao.

For any of those fights to take place, Khan will have to look especially good in beating Kotelnik and will have to avoid getting knocked down. Khan has had problems against big punchers since turning pro in 2005, and was taken out in a shocking 1st round knockout last year by Colombian Breidis Prescott.

Kotelnik, 31, struggled to defeat knockout artist Marcos Maidana in his last fight, beating him by a questionable 12-round split decision in his adopted country of Germany. Many people who saw the fight felt that Kotelnik lost the fight to Maidana.

In tomorrow night’s bout, Khan has a big advantage in terms of hand speed and movement compared to the much slower and methodical Kotelnik. If Khan can use movement and stay away from standing directly in front of Kotelnik, he stands a good chance of beating him by decision. A knockout victory for Khan is pretty much out of the question because Kotelnik has proven in the past in fights against Maidana and Junior Witter that he has a good chin and can take a hard shot.

Also on the card will be Matthew Hall vs. Anthony Small, Enzo Maccarinelli vs. Denis Lebedev, James DeGale vs. Ciaran Healy, Kelly Brook vs. Michael Lomax, Billy Joe Saunders vs. Matt Scriven, Frankie Gavin vs. Graham Fearn

James Degale (2-0, 1 KO’s), a 2008 middleweight Olympic Gold Medalist for Britain, is looking to put in another impressive effort. After taking a lot of criticism after his first pro fight, he looked very impressive in destroying his most recent opponent Jindrich Kubin in a 1st round stoppage.

Maccarinelli, 28, says that he’ll be retiring if he gets beaten by Lebedev. Enzo has been stopped in two of his last three fights, losing his last bout by a 9th round stoppage to Ola Afolabi. Maccarinelli has selected a hard puncher to put his career on the line against by facing the unbeaten 17-0 Lebedev.

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