Is Khan the Worst of the Light Welterweight Champions?
August 4th, 2009
By Scott Gilfoid: Previously, World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik was considered by many to be the weakest of the light welterweight champions. Even Amir Khan said that he felt that Kotelnik was the weakest of the bunch, which is probably why Khan went after him in the first place rather than take on WBO champion Timothy Bradley or IBF title holder Juan Urango.
At the time that Khan fought Kotelnik, the WBC title was vacant. It’s not anymore, though, now that Junior Witter quit last Saturday night after the 8th round against Devon Alexander. However, now that the last title has been captured by Alexander, I have to say that I think Khan appears to be the weak link in the title holders and has not only captured Kotelnik’s title with Amir’s 12 round unanimous decision win over the Ukrainian on July 18th in Manchester, England.
Khan chose to fight Kotelnik rather than going after tougher opponents like Bradley and Urango. The weird thing about boxing is that talent doesn’t always transfer over to being the more popular fighter unfortunately. Khan, even though he’s probably not even close to being in the class of Bradley and Alexander, he’s clearly much more popular than those guys are right now.
It’s hard to say why because Khan hasn’t done much since turning pro four years ago. His competition has been limited with Breidis Prescott and Kotelnik being his best opponents of his career. Prescott destroyed Khan in a 1st round knockout last year in September.
So, effectively Khan has a 1-1 record. You can forget about all the fluff opponents that Khan has faced before that in building up his 21-1 record. Only two of the fighters are considered worthy, and one of them – Kotelnik – was considered to be a paper champion at the time that Khan fought him.
Let’s look at Khan’s fellow light welterweights and consider his ability versus there own:
Timothy Bradley – This is arguably the best light welterweight in the division. Bradley, 25, has proven his worth by defeating Junior Witter, Edner Cherry, Kendall Holt and Nate Campbell in his last four fights. The bout with Campbell ended in controversy last weekend due to what appeared to be a blown call on a cut that opened over the left eye of Campbell in the 3rd round. However, there’s not mistaking that Bradley was dominating Campbell at the time of the stoppage and would have likely continued with that domination in the following rounds.
Bradley would likely make easy work of a fight with Khan if they were to fight in a unification bout. I don’t imagine that Khan or his trainer Freddie Roach will make this fight happen, simply because Bradley appears to be fighting on another level above Khan in ability.
This has nothing to do with age, because I don’t care how old Khan is, he’d likely never be able to compete with a quality fighter like Bradley. I see Bradley stopping Khan within the 3rd round if and when they fight. Roach will probably have Khan running for his life in this one, but it won’t work. Bradley is too fast, and would cut off the ring on Khan and take him out.
Devon Alexander – Now the new WBC light welterweight champion, Alexander looked great in defeating Junior Witter last weekend in an 8th round stoppage. Alexander throws a lot of punches, and moves well. Khan wouldn’t be able to hold Alexander off for long and would find himself getting nailed with big left hands.
If Alexander rocks Khan like he did against Witter last weekend, I can’t see Khan recovering the way that Witter did. Alexander would likely finish him off quick. Alexander has a lot of technical ability and is well schooled. He doesn’t make mistakes and is great and putting pressure on his opponents.
Khan would be forced to clinch a great deal to keep Alexander from getting on the inside against him and landing body and head shots. Alexander hasn’t faced very stiff competition, but he proved against Witter that he’s the real deal and is fundamentally very sound. Khan would jab and move, but eventually Alexander would find him and dust him off.
Juan Urango – This would be Khan’s best opportunity for a victory. Urango isn’t that fast or technically skilled, and moves like a big tank around the ring. Khan in theory could circle Urango (21-2-1, 16 KO’s) indefinitely and jab him to pieces. That could work, but the problem is Urango would eventually catch up to Khan at some point in the fight and land a big shot to the head.
I don’t have much faith in Khan being able to take these big shots without crumbling. Urango hits much harder than Kotelnik, and there were some moments in the Kotelnik fight where I questioned whether Khan would be able to stay upright for long. With Urango, Khan would be getting hit much harder if not more often. I think it’s a winnable fight for Khan, but I still think his glass jaw would betray him and he’d lose by knockout.
There you have it. I see Khan as the weakest of the light welterweights and the new paper champion of the division. I think Khan is good for one victory over his number #1 contender Dimitry Salita, who I feel shouldn’t even be in the top tier, much less a number #1 fighter. Salita hasn’t faced any top tier competition that would make you believe that he should be a number #1 contender.
As such, Khan will probably beat him and then after that fight, Khan will likely try to steer around WBA interim champion Marcos Maidana so that Amir can continue looking for beatable opponents. Maidana would likely knock Khan out in one or two rounds because of his huge power.
Tags: 56 Responses to “Is Khan the Worst of the Light Welterweight Champions?”
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Khan is young for a world champ,you cant deny he would give anyone trouble with his speed,anyone who saw him at the olympics would know he’s got more to offer,i am confident that we are yet to see his best.
I mean he blew the british public away with his amazing speed and agility in the olympics and i think khan has forgotten how good he is.
16 years old with a silver medal,thats not bad going.
Appreciated Blade, fair comment.
it was meant in boxing terminolagy
I’m not disputing anything about his title or his future fights, what I am saying is you cannot call anyone who laces up the gloves and steps into that ring a coward, in any way, shape or form.
I can’t see how anyone can call Amir Khan a coward. Anyone who gets into a ring and boxes is not a coward on any level, and Khan getting back into a ring after a humiliating first round knockout is the complete opposite of cowardice.
By the way Blade, as you so eloquently put it, if you’re ‘chinny, YOY (you’re?) chinny’ well surely again this shows that Khan is not a coward because he knows he has a poor jaw but he still gets into the ring and fights anyway. You, sir, are a tool.
scotty g when are you going to realise that you are just the result of a drunken fumble with the postman- we all know what your mums like after a few drinks the dirty cow.
p.s iv written this once but hes taken it off-stop taking my insulting posts off, what ever happened to freedom of speech scotty!!!!!!
hey scott. wen kahn cleans the division up at least u can say he was traind by a yank lol!!!!!!!
he come second at olympics beat the worst champion out there his own words just let me remind you nobody cares for silver the like gold and the wba belt well not the worst but it aint the wbc or ibf is it us brits always love second place runner up thats why where sh1t at everything some write a list people khan can fight and people he khant and compare you will be grave digging for a while mind you lol are bulking up featherweights
He maybe 22 but so what,if he got to improve so much then why take easy option to get a title,what he gonna improve on,dancing in circles more!If your chinny yoy chinny and there nowt you can do about it
whoever wrote this story what exactly is your point all 140lbs at the moment are terrible- bradley is limited and has no power, holt has no heart as has torres, alexander will get ko soon, he would be anobody in all other divisions and witter and haaton are shot past it bums. peterson is so over-rated like all yankies, maidana lost to kotelnik,and victor ortiz- my baby brother has more heart than him, amir kahn is no better the division is awful
i believe he can become a world champion but not yet because he is so young my son is an olympic qualifying sprinter and even he has has offered to help young khan in any position
Khan is to young ,he is a baby i cant belive he is becoming a world champion , i think he needs to fight weaker people first,not the tough oppenents,hes way too young
He’s got to fight Breidis Prescott before he is any good in my book.
khan , floydy and pacman are all frauds, just look at the cherry picking that paccy’s doing at the moment and roach is re-writing the rules of boxing with his 145lb welter limit. its a disgrace. i blame greedie roach, trainer of da year my bellend
the author of these articles are obsessed with khan, will u pls shut of ffs and let the boy be. u talk as if hes the only fighter in boxing who doesn’t go by the book. gamboa got a shot at the world title fighting an absoloute bum piece and after only 11 fights at a new weight, y not talk bout him? pacquiao fought the weakest lightweight when he moved up and never even looked at guzman, valero, casamayor, campbell, diaz- basically anyone who can fight back- care to comment on this. no didnt think so
”Khan, even though he’s probably not even close to being in the class of Bradley and Alexander”
What gives you that impression? Bradley beating a old Witter who had already been beaten before or Bradley being put down by Holt twice? Or is it that Alexander jabbed his way to beating and even more shot Witter, or the many world class opponents that Alexander has faced? Oh it must be because they are American. Good point US fighters are always better aren’t they. Nice logic you nomad.
The only time Khan and P4P gets mentioned in the same sentence is when incompetent idiots like this Scott Gilfoid write rubbish like this. Then they will claim that Khan’s hyped up because there are too many articles about him and some even claim he claims to be P4P. Its people like Scott Gilfoid who create talking points for Khan and then slaughter him for being talked about! Scott, go play on your surf board you grand prik!
You guys remember “Hey arnold” the cartoon. Well Scott gilfoid reminds me of helga who used to bully and hate Arnold, but deep down loved him. I think this is the same story with gilfoid and khan because this guy posts more about khan than anybody else.
khan is a quality fighter, thats all i have to say
it looks like most of you dont watch boxing. khan is not vacating the title he is being forced to fight dmitriy salita as he has been a mandatory challenger for months. plus kotelnik beat maidana. before the khan fight every1 was saying that khan cant win kotelnik and he was going to get ko’d. now that he has won every1 is saying kotelnik is a nobody. give the kid a break. Khan would beat devon, urango and maybe timothy bradley in a year. HE IS NOT VACATING THE TITLE!!. this website is just giving false news about khan, you can clearly see they hate khan and pacquiao!!! WAKE UP
did’nt Kotelnik beat Maidana!!!
Scott, Mate, Change the record…..
you know Scott – i see articles spurning out from you almost on adaily basis and always anti-Khan with venim, almost liek its personal!!!!
WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM…. I AM GONNA STOP READING ARTCLES FROM THIS ENTIRE SITE, AS IT LACKS HONESTY……BOXING ABOUT HONOUR NOT THIS
be Real
“after a few drinks the dirty cow.”
- ROFL !!! \m/ \m/
- i concur, he is the worst chump ! don’t even mention p4p in the same sentence as … whats his name again ?????
- he has to go into the deep end of the waters now, don’t turn back. go in with both fists, or none at all. great champs were made in the ring, not on paper.
- thank you everyone, and goodnight.
tysons got a weak chin,!!!!!!!!khan should be going for the pfp title,!!!!!!!!khan would beat cotto!!!!!!!!! do you even know what ur talking about,?do you even watch boxing? the only way khan is gonna be cosidered the best pound for pound boxer in the next 12 month is if he beats , pacman, cotto, mayweather , marques, darchynyan right now!!!!!!!!! he couldnt even beat bradley, prescott , maidaina, ortiz, witter ,,,, so thats gonna be some busy year for khan then lol, lets not get carried away,khan had a good fight with kotelnic and he,s improving fast but to even put him in the top 20 pfp list just makes u look daft and you obviously dont know boxing!!! he,s about to duck maidaina because he roach doesn want him to get in the ring with a banger ,how the hell in the next 12 month is he gonna be pfp best,LOL
if khan vacates the title to avoid maidaina and fights morales then i wanna start a petition to get his licence took off him. He is making a mockery of the sport and conning casual boxing fans who will think that morales is a great win because of what morales used to be. lets be clear as wel, morales would have ko’d khan within a round when he was at his peak. i think if khan was at his best he could beat urango but thats as far as hell go. anyone agree?
Brits commenting here saying Khan will be P4P Champ soon & I read another one thatsaid Mike Tyson had a weak chin OMFG WTF Kinda guys comment here? Do these MOFO’s actually know s hit about Boxing?
Amir Khan’t is not now and never will be the best. not even a top 20 p4p.
I dnt understand why people are so anti amir khan, you are talking about URANGO, BRADLEY, ALEXANDRA what the hell did they achieve when they were 22???
People judge him like hes in his 30′s pssssht.
To be the best you have to beat the best.
No he’s the best.
He should be called Amir Khan’t
Amir Con is by far the worst of the light welterweight champions.
yeah thats why i knocking him,he only just won the title after a shocking ko loss,mmm just don’t sound right does it!,sorry but no damn break,if he gives up the belt instaed of fighting maidana he a coward as well as a fraud
Say what Gilfoid?? Bradley would get whooped by hatton he is very beatable. He has no power and got dropped twice by kendal holt. I think that campbell would have won if the fight had continued he was starting to assert himself and get the upper hand. I agree khan is the weakest of the champions but give him a dam break he only just won the title after a shocking knockout loss and he also has the best trainer in the world.
Can you believe people actually stick up for kahn’t,the guy is a complete joke,milking publics money,he a fraud.Giving up the title you could add coward as well to the list.
How can you defend the undefendable,he been on the deck 7 times in what,22 fights against weak punchers and no hopers and people reckon he will get better against stronger opponents,can’t take it seriously with some of the comments
He always said he wanted to avenge his defeat to Prescott. Lets see if he will put his money where his mouth is. Prescott has recently lost his last fight on points and im sure he would be happy to get a shot at Amir Khans title. Somehow i dont think that fight is gonna happen as Khan is scared to fight anyone with a bit of power. If he wants to prove himself without fighting a current welterweight champion the i suggest he fights either Prescott, Valero or Ortiz, neither have been tested at a higher level so he should be considering them but he wont because he knows they can all bang.
yeh but khans still a work in progress. and hes young, training with the best coach, sparing with the p4p best, so hes only going to get better.
By jumping straight in hes going to loose…. because his record does stand at 1-1…would manny even dream of fighting cotto after his second proper fight? nooo… so give him time under roach
i think scott is true in Watt he said in regards to khan but i do believe khan’s punch resistance has improved a great deal going up to light welterweight but im not to shore how well it will hold up against the top fighters in the division but time will tell all we can do is wish him luck and mike tyson had a solid chin
Give Khan A break he said he was going after kotelnik because he was not ready for any stronger opponents at that point in his career but in time he will improve and be ready for stronger opponents.
i think alexander is the best he really shocked witter even if he was injured i cant stand bradley i hate watching his boring style. holt is is prat everytime he punched he hit bradley or knocked him down but that was on a rare ocassion in the fight
Yes he is. All he did was take over Kotelniks mantle as being the worst champ.
All the boxers will see him that way, all the pundits, experts and proper boxing fans will see it that way too.
There is ofcourse a very simple way of having that removed, face the other world champs. Until he does he is guna keep that mantle.
To be honest not only is he not seen as good as the other champs theres a few contenders seen as being able to easily take the belt off him.
What ever, if he wants to change these peoples opinions then activly seek them all out.
postiveclint – If he’s that good then name me one LW of any merit who Kahn has fought? NOT PUMPED UP SFW’s
Tell me which LWW of any merit he fought to deserve his shot?
In fact just name any fighter of any merit who was not tailored for Kahn that he’s fought…other than BP who sparked him out!
A shot MAB fighting well past his prime and two weights up DOES NOT COUNT!
youve lost your money postiveclint.
A put £100 bet khan will be the best welter weight, in the next two fights, any guy who comes from knock out like he did 10 months ago, only to now to become a world champion. come on guys, i just smell a stink of jealousy, why do u think khan is one of the most most famous boxers in the world today? because hes a true champion in the making.
OH FORGOT TO SAY
YES HE IS THE WEAKEST, WORST , FRAUD OF A CHAMPION OUT THERE!
AND IN VACATING TO AVOID MAIDANA AND CHOOSING TO FIGHT A SHOT MORALES SAYS IT ALL!!
WHAT A JOKE!
Bradleys workrate and come forward style would be too much for Khan
NEXT P4P GREAT?, THE NEW MANNY?
LMAO!! SORRY I CANNOT STOP LAUGHING……I’M WETTING MYSELF!!!!
RICK & LEE WHAT PLANET ARE YOU ON?
On one level I have to agree with you. Thus far, Amir Khan hasn’t done anything that has blown me away. Barrera was shot (and a bit unlucky with regards to the wound he sustained above his brow being the result of a head-clash), Prescott destroyed him and Kotelnik is not an elite fighter. To apply a famous baseball term, Khan would seem to represent the proverbial ‘good hit, no field’.
However – and this is a big however – Under the pressure of a championship bout, he did what he needed to do against Kotelnik. Whilst Khan is no Pernell Whitaker and Kotelnik is no Julio Cesar Chavez, he didnt allow himself to become exposed the way he did against Prescott. Plus he is only 22. So basically what i’m saying is that whilst he does not stand out amongst the light-welter champs, let’s not write him off as being a fraud. Who is to say that under Roach he has not and will not improve?
Jury is still out.
I have watched Dmitry for several years. At the beginning he was KOing most his opponents. Then he worked on his skill level in recent bouts. He fights better against tall fighters where he can go to the body. A recent article pointed out that Dima’s opposition during his first 30 fights was actually better than most present and past champions. He has a lot of anger in him. The media short cuts him but you will see his experience shortly, Stay tuned.
Tyson had a weak chin? when did you ever see tyson get knocked out by a single shot?
tyson never had a weak chin are u dumb khan as defo got a weak chin but he is a good true boxing champion and will go on to be a legend
khan has got a weak chin butt that dont mean anything tyson had a weak chin and look at him khan a gd champ lay of him
kahn is the new manny roach is training him up well
i sort of agree with u rick but kahn aint ready yet in bwt a year he will be considered the best p4p boxer in the world
no way are you dumb kahn is top quailtiy and i think one of best champs atm he should be going after the p4p title now kahn would destrey bradley easy and i think he would beat cotto