Khan v Kotelnik - WBA l-welter agreed for June 27

[Autobarn]

Well, Khan was a light welter until he started fighting for titles. I always thought he'd be a light welter. FWank used to have a piece of the WBA 140 belt with Mbaye/Rees and many believe this was going to be Khan's 1st world title shot if FWank fighters still had the WBA belt.

Kotelnik's good, he defended his title against the next big thing Maidana and won a terrific fight.

What if Khan wins and has to defend against Maidana? All the ingredients for another Prescott, IMO.

[overhand_right]

Fighting a few lbs over lightweight & routinely beating up on super-feathers did not make Khan a light-welter, surely?

Think Amir will get tired out vs Kotelnik.

[gobbles]

Well, Khan was a light welter until he started fighting for titles. I always thought he'd be a light welter. FWank used to have a piece of the WBA 140 belt with Mbaye/Rees and many believe this was going to be Khan's 1st world title shot if FWank fighters still had the WBA belt.

Kotelnik's good, he defended his title against the next big thing Maidana and won a terrific fight.

What if Khan wins and has to defend against Maidana? All the ingredients for another Prescott, IMO.

And boxed at light-welter in the ABAs

[Autobarn]

I think he used to fight 3 or 4 pounds above the lightweight limit.

Light welter bully, that's what I saw him as.

[Captain Hook]

Am I the only one thinking that he's taking this fight as it's easier than the Death Row which is the Lightweight division?

Nope. That's exactly it.

ditto...one of the weaker divisions, unlike lightweight which has 6/7 top fighters

[terminator]

I'm amazed so few people are disgusted by this obvious steering around all the top fighters at LW and going for a weak paper champ at light-welter.

I still think it will go wrong for him, Kotelnik is solid & will work all night like he did vs Gavin Rees. Kotelnik is solid enough & durable enough to make Amir implode at some point over 12.

Khan is not ready for the top guys at lightweight or lightwelter at least he is not fighting Gavin Ress for the WBA title
You seem to rate Kotelnik as a decent opponent for Khan and he is better opponent than Mezaache or John Murray if he went the british/european route

[BABY BLUE]

Didn't warren say that khan will drop down to LW once he becomes a world champ?

[DaveyH]

To be fair to Khan this is no easy task although I don't think for a minute they'd be so keen on the WBA "Ordinary" Titile if Maidana had beaten Kotelnik.
Can't fault Khan for taking a tricky fight, I was almost certain he'd wait for the WBO LW title to become vacant and then take it against the weakest possible opponent. Either that or go down the Euro route now Thaxton is out of the way. I think they are underestimating Kotelnik though, even though he's somewhat mechanical he can make a fighter look really bad. Khan should be able to edge it over 12 rounds.
However the fact Khan has got a title crack at LWW is beyond a joke. His last three fights have hardly been world title form, a 1st round KO loss and two highly unconvincing "wins." (To be fair though he'd have beaten Fagan anyway but the broken ankle stopped it being a long night).
I just hope this fight has a satisfying conclusion, one way or the other. No injuries, no cuts, no dodgy events. It's time Khan showed us he can do it properly or not at all.

[stujones]

I think the term "unconvincing" is harsh, Khan didn't put a foot wrong in either fight. The two opponents were very unforunate, but the term unconvincing isn't fair on Khan. Unconvincing is how I would have descibed Taylors win over Ouma and Spinks.

[stujones]

I think he used to fight 3 or 4 pounds above the lightweight limit.

Light welter bully, that's what I saw him as.

He made the weight as a pro, he's a lightweight IMO. Or at least call every other fighter who walk about a good few pounds above their fighting weight bullies also.

A Lightweight bully maybe, given as he fought alot of Super Feathers - but a Light Welter bully I disagree... you think Prescott walks around at 9 stone 9?

[Dioufy]

I think Kotelnik's going to knock Khan out after 9 rounds.

[DaveyH]

When I say unconvincing I don't mean it as a criticism of Khan, both fights ended in unfortunate circumstances. But you can't tell me that "winning" fights in this way and point blank refusing a rematch to settle the score genuinely amounts to a deserved crack at a World title.

[gobbles]

I'm amazed so few people are disgusted by this obvious steering around all the top fighters at LW and going for a weak paper champ at light-welter.

I still think it will go wrong for him, Kotelnik is solid & will work all night like he did vs Gavin Rees. Kotelnik is solid enough & durable enough to make Amir implode at some point over 12.

Didn't Hamed win a world title in his first fight at featherweight? People don't talk about him steering past the top super-bantams

[crusader]

I think the reason many are pissed off is because he was brutally knocked out two fights ago. He really doesn't deserve it but then again neither do a lot of the fighters who get a title shot now a days. I didn't think Dunne did, but he won, and Naz did too, despite never fighting at featherweight previously. Khan has a big frame and I think he will win this, but I am curious to see what he will do after (if he wins of course). The number one contender Salita would be a realistic fight that he would probably win, but eventually he will have to take on Maidana or Ortiz, and Im not sure Frank would let him do that, especially if its Ortiz.

[Pongsaklek]

Some of you are pathetic Khan haters. Seems some people are afraid to give Khan credit, if he wins a legit world title form a legit world champion. Kotelnik is a good fighter and legit world champion with a huge amateur pedigree and has a case for being undefeated as a pro. It´s a good match-up for Khan style-wise, since Kotelnik prefers to counterpunch, so Kahn could be fast enough to get in and out, before Kotelnik can get his shots off. But doesn´t every promoter look for the best match-up to win a first world title? I´m sure Warren wouldn´t seek out Maidana, not because he´s better or worse than Kotelnik, but because he is relentless for 12 rounds and can punch really hard.
Though I have to say Kotelnik punches harder than his record suggests, and he can certainly hurt Khan, if he catches him with a flush right hand.

[Counter-puncher]

I'm amazed so few people are disgusted by this obvious steering around all the top fighters at LW and going for a weak paper champ at light-welter.

I still think it will go wrong for him, Kotelnik is solid & will work all night like he did vs Gavin Rees. Kotelnik is solid enough & durable enough to make Amir implode at some point over 12.

sorry mate i don't get it. on one hand you're saying khan should be criticised for taking the easy shot

on the other you think he'll lose.

not that easy then is it?

[BABY BLUE]

I think Kotelnik's going to knock Khan out after 9 rounds.

yeah thats a posbility or khan can outbox him and win by points. it can go both ways.

[DaveyH]

I'm amazed so few people are disgusted by this obvious steering around all the top fighters at LW and going for a weak paper champ at light-welter.

I still think it will go wrong for him, Kotelnik is solid & will work all night like he did vs Gavin Rees. Kotelnik is solid enough & durable enough to make Amir implode at some point over 12.

Didn't Hamed win a world title in his first fight at featherweight? People don't talk about him steering past the top super-bantams

Bollocks! I wrote about that very issue a few times on this board, in fact there was a thread devoted to reasons why people get cynical about matchmaking and Hameds Super Bantam swerve of Barrera to fight Robinson for the WBO strap in his first Featherweight fight was my prime example. Several other people wrote about it too.

But in my opinion it's not a criticism of Khan. His team are just exploiting a loophole that exists because of the pathetic way the boxing boards are run. Kotelnik is no pushover either, yes he appears to be the "weakest" of the champions within Khans reach but you have to walk before you can run and if Khan can come through this then I'd hope it'd be the start of some solid matchmaking for him. Or it could be the start of a long winded extremely cautious title reign, we'll see I suppose.

[Bard of Boxrec]

I'm amazed so few people are disgusted by this obvious steering around all the top fighters at LW and going for a weak paper champ at light-welter.

I still think it will go wrong for him, Kotelnik is solid & will work all night like he did vs Gavin Rees. Kotelnik is solid enough & durable enough to make Amir implode at some point over 12.

sorry mate i don't get it. on one hand you're saying khan should be criticised for taking the easy shot

on the other you think he'll lose.

not that easy then is it?

He's saying that Warren is avoiding the best fighters. He is also predicting Khan will lose. The two are allowed to be expressed together...

[Pongsaklek]

I'm amazed so few people are disgusted by this obvious steering around all the top fighters at LW and going for a weak paper champ at light-welter.

I still think it will go wrong for him, Kotelnik is solid & will work all night like he did vs Gavin Rees. Kotelnik is solid enough & durable enough to make Amir implode at some point over 12.

sorry mate i don't get it. on one hand you're saying khan should be criticised for taking the easy shot

on the other you think he'll lose.

not that easy then is it?

He's saying that Warren is avoiding the best fighters. He is also predicting Khan will lose. The two are allowed to be expressed together...

Khan got KTFO by an ESPN clubfighter. Do you expect him to jump in the ring with JMM, Pacquiao or Hatton in his very next fight? One can argue that Khan doesn´t deserve a title shot, I don´t think he does, but for a guy who goes life and death with british super-featherweights this is a legit test. Assuming he wins, he´ll go into invisible mode. Hopefully Ortiz is so p*ssed at Kotelnik he´ll go on a vendetta against the WBA and its champion, whoever that may be.

[gobbles]

I think the reason many are pissed off is because he was brutally knocked out two fights ago. He really doesn't deserve it but then again neither do a lot of the fighters who get a title shot now a days. I didn't think Dunne did, but he won, and Naz did too, despite never fighting at featherweight previously. Khan has a big frame and I think he will win this, but I am curious to see what he will do after (if he wins of course). The number one contender Salita would be a realistic fight that he would probably win, but eventually he will have to take on Maidana or Ortiz, and Im not sure Frank would let him do that, especially if its Ortiz.

Why do so many people think Ortiz has earned a chance? He is as much a Golden Boy hype job as Khan is a allegedly one.
Who's he beaten? Maussa, who was hopeless, Emmanuel Clottey, who is average, and a bunch on unproven no-names. Last two fights - Jeffrey Resto and Mike Arnaoustis. Who are they?

Try doing a test of substituting Khan's name for Ortiz and see what you think of Ortiz's record, rather than just believing US hype, like so many do on here. And when believing the hype and the US experts, ask yourself how many fights the likes of Dan Rafael have ever watch outside the USA.

On the subject of getting knocked out and then getting a title shot, Charlie Magri was knocked out twice by nobodies in the six fights before he won the WBC title. That's when there were two world titles, that was the "prestigious" WBC. And the nation rejoiced.

[world ranked]

I think the reason many are pissed off is because he was brutally knocked out two fights ago. He really doesn't deserve it but then again neither do a lot of the fighters who get a title shot now a days. I didn't think Dunne did, but he won, and Naz did too, despite never fighting at featherweight previously. Khan has a big frame and I think he will win this, but I am curious to see what he will do after (if he wins of course). The number one contender Salita would be a realistic fight that he would probably win, but eventually he will have to take on Maidana or Ortiz, and Im not sure Frank would let him do that, especially if its Ortiz.

Why do so many people think Ortiz has earned a chance? He is as much a Golden Boy hype job as Khan is a allegedly allegedly one.
Who's he beaten? Maussa, who was hopeless, Emmanuel Clottey, who is average, and a bunch on unproven no-names. Last two fights - Jeffrey Resto and Mike Arnaoustis. Who are they?

Try doing a test of substituting Khan's name for Ortiz and see what you think of Ortiz's record, rather than just believing US hype, like so many do on here. And when believing the hype and the US experts, ask yourself how many fights the likes of Dan Rafael have ever watch outside the USA.

On the subject of getting knocked out and then getting a title shot, Charlie Magri was knocked out twice by nobodies in the six fights before he won the WBC title. That's when there were two world titles, that was the "prestigious" WBC. And the nation rejoiced.

And I'm form the US

[Dioufy]

Against Fagan and Barrera I tipped Khan to win both, and to win them with ease. But I am very excited about this fight - I believe Kotelnik will have too much for him. Khan's going in against a very decent world-champion, moving up a division and fighting someone who has only lost to former world champions (two close fights as well). If Khan does win this then I will finally applaud him and start to call him fringe world-class. I see Khan getting nowhere when Kotelnik has such a tight guard. He will get frustrated and probably run out of ideas. I then see mistakes creeping into Khan's game and then him walking onto a decent shot about the 8th round - game over.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Yes it's not something which even surprises me any more - which I think is even more sad.

Once you start to see the shit that goes on with the boards ratings - you become outraged, then eventually, you become so jaded, it barely raises a billious attack any more.

Absolutely, Jim. That's the danger. The only safe, moral route to take is that they are all shite and judge individual fighters accordingly.

I agree, all we can hope for, is those occasional nights, like Cotto v Mosley and Cotto v Margarito, where we get fighters taking risks and making great fights.

[knockout]

Anyone think the extra 5lbs might help Khan's chin and stamina???
Its a possibility... he is never gonna be Marvin Hagler of course, but he must have been pretty tight at lightweight?????