By Dan Ambrose: For boxing fans hoping to see a fight between former WBA light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik (31-4-1, 13 KO’s) and top light welterweight contender Victor Ortiz (28-2-1, 22 KO’s) for the December 11th Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana card, you can pretty much forget about it. Apparently, Kotelnik and Ortiz’s promoters haven’t had any luck in putting this fight together because the money isn’t right. Instead of fighting Ortiz, the 32-year-old Kotelnik may end up fighting either number #1 ranked IBF light welterweight contender Kaizer Mabuzza or EBU lightweight champion John Murray next. Kotelnik at least would have a chance at beating one of those fighters.

It’a doubtful he would have been able to compete with the hard hitting Ortiz, who appears to be too young, fast and have too much ability for an aging fighter like Kotelnik. You can make a strong argument that Kotelnik should have lost his last three fights, because he got what appears to be a gift 12 round decision over Marcos Maidana last year. As it is, Kotelnik has lost his last two fights to Amir Khan and Devon Alexander. Given his recent string of bad luck, you would think it would be easy to arrange a financial deal between Ortiz and Kotelnik. This would have been a big chance for Kotelnik to fight on a fight card that would have given him a lot of visibility.

Kotelnik may regret not fighting Kotelnik if he gets beaten by Mabuzza or Murray. As for Ortiz, he’s not likely going to be getting anyone interesting to fight unless they can convince Murray to accept the fight. Ortiz has been matched up against fading fighters like Vivian Harris and Nate Campbell recently. Ortiz needs to be challenged with better opposition for him to continue to develop. A year ago, Ortiz was stopped in the 6th round by Maidana. He’s been matched soft since that time.