By Dave Lahr: Many in the media have been quick to put a positive spin on lightweight Amir Khan’s (20-1, 15 KOs) recent announcement that he will be moving up to take on World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik (31-2-1, 13 KOs) in a title challenge on June 27th. However, what appears to be lost in the movement to put a positive light on Khan’s choice of fighting Kotelnik instead of a top lightweight is that Khan is seemingly sidestepping around potentially tough bouts against lightweights like Edwin Valero, Ali Funeka, Michael Katsidis, Juan Diaz, Breidis Prescott and Paulus Moses.
It seems to be a way for Khan to avoid fights against any one of those tough lightweights which could end up with Khan getting beaten once again. The argument in favor of Khan selecting Kotelnik rather than facing this murderer’s row of lightweights is that Khan isn’t yet ready for those guys and that by fighting Kotelnik, who has a weak punch, it will enable the 22-year-old Khan a little more time to mature as a fighter so that he’ll be in a better position to fight them later on down the line.
That seems a little farfetched to me, because how much better will Khan’s chin get over a years’ time? If Khan does beat Kotelnik, it would mean that Khan would have to defend it against even harder punchers like Marcos Rene Maidana, Victor Ortiz and Randall Bailey. Valero may punch hard, but I think Maidana and Bailey punch just as hard and Ortiz almost as hard as Valero.
Khan would have problems being able to take their shots and I think he’s kidding himself if he thinks he can hold onto a light welterweight title for long enough for it to matter. That’s the problem for fighters that jump around different divisions to try and hide weaknesses like poor chin.
A fighter like Khan can get away with it for a fight or two, but eventually he’s going to get knocked out again when he has to face a big puncher. I hate to think that this is how Khan’s career may be conducted in the future with Khan being shuttled from division to division seeking out the easiest fight possible to prevent him having to take on a big puncher.
I think his stock will decrease in doing this because it will seem so obvious to everyone what he’s doing. Khan is being pushed ahead of more deserving light welterweights in the WBA light welterweight division like Maidana and Ortiz, both of which have worked their way into a top spot by knocking out most of their opponents. It’s not fair to them that Khan is being pushed ahead of them due to his bigger name.
Even worse is the perception that Khan is ducking the best lightweights in order to get this undeserving shot at Kotelnik. I wouldn’t mind Khan moving past the lightweights if Khan had fought Maidana, Bailey or Ortiz and beaten them, but he hasn’t in this case. Instead he’s just straight to a title shot against Kotelnik without having to earn his way into the position the hard way.
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