By Matt Stein: Amir Khan (20-1, 15 KO’s) has all these grand plans about wanting to fight Ricky Hatton or one of the other big named in boxing, but I’m really wondering whether Khan will be able to get by WBA light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik (31-2-1, 13 KO’s) later on this month on June 27th at the O2 Arena in London.
Kotelnik isn’t a puncher that’s for sure, but the guy is plenty tough and will be sticking around for the 12 rounds unlike many of Khan’s opponents. Presented with a fighter that doesn’t disappear like his other opponents have typically done, I see Khan as being caught trapped in a tough fight that he’s had no preparation for in his prior fights.
Khan thus far has been matched up against fighters he’s been able to roll over for the most part with the exception of Breidis Prescott. Kotelnik won’t be blown away with a few flurries by Khan like Amir’s other opponents. Kotelnik is going to keep firing back at Khan with jabs, hard right hands and left hooks.
I just don’t see Khan as having the mental or physical toughness to beat a fighter as persistent and as strong as Kotelnik. Khan, 22, is coming into this fight with a 5th round technical decision over Marco Antonio Barrera in March. Believe it or not, that was Khan’s second toughest opponent of his career.
I don’t doubt Barrera’s skills but he was moving up in weight and dealing with age in his fight with Amir. And the fight didn’t even get to go the full distance because of the cut that occurred on the forehead of Barrera. Khan got nothing out of the fight other than a handful of rounds against an opponent with only partial vision.
Khan’s punches had no effect on Barrera. After the fight, Barrera said that Khan doesn’t hit hard. Barrera might have just been saying this but he is usually someone that tells it like it is. Khan’s power has been rated good, yet most of his knockouts have come against tomato cans in England.
Khan probably won’t be knocking Kotelnik and without a knockout occurring or a cut from his opponent, Khan will be getting hit a lot in the fight. Khan will be moving a lot, trying to stay away and using his jab to control the fight.
However, Khan prefers to throw fast combinations and he won’t be able resist trying to throw flurries to impress the crowd. This is where Khan will find himself getting hit repeatedly by Kotelnik, who has a lancing jab that he likes to throw at his opponents.
Kotelnik has been in with a lot of tough fighters in previous bouts against Junior Witter, Marcos Maidana, Gavin Rees, Souleymane M’baye, William Gonzalez, and Mohamed Abdulev, beating most of them and only losing by questionable decisions to Witter and M’baye.
Khan may think that he’s found an opponent that he can beat in the 31-year-old Kotelnik, but I think Khan has badly misjudged Kotelnik’s talent. He’s as good if not better than Witter, and I don’t consider Khan being in the same league as a skilled fighter like Witter. I think Khan has made a big miscalculation in moving up in weight to fight Kotelnik.
I see Khan getting badly beaten up by Kotelnik and either losing by a bloody 12 round decision or getting caught by a hard shot from Kotelnik and taken out in the 8th or 9th. Kotelnik will take Khan deep in the fight and take advantage of Khan’s questionable stamina to knock him out.
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