Junior Witter has told Setanta Sports News that he believes Andreas Kotelnik will knock Amir Khan out on June 27.
Witter defeated Kotelnik back in 2005 but reckons the Ukrainian WBA light-welterweight champion has too much in his locker for up-and-coming Brit Khan.
The step up in weight for the Bolton fighter means it is a risk but one that promoter allegedly feels is worth taking.
"I think he'll get beat quite convincingly," Witter informed Setanta Sports News.
"It'd be good for British boxing if he can do it but, realistically, he's been knocked out by a decent puncher at lightweight and now he's moving up to light-welterweight, where people are bigger and hit harder.
"Kotelnik is not a one-punch specialist but he's very accurate and is good at his job. He studies opponents, finds weaknesses and tries to exploit it.
"Amir Khan's weak spot is his chin.
"I think he'll have difficulty for the first three rounds getting to Amir but then knocking him out somewhere around the middle [of the fight]."
Witter is still waiting to discover who he will fight next but Devon Alexander is a strong possibility.
"I'm in a waiting process at the minute," he explained.
"I want to find out what Timothy Bradley is going to do as there's talk of him vacating the WBC.
"If he vacates, I reckon I'll box Devon Alexander for the title.
"If he doesn't, I'll probably have one more fight then fight for the WBC, which would be for the European.
"I'm not sure who that's going to be as the champion ranker has yet again pulled out so they've stripped him."
It's definitely something I could see happening. Kotelnik may not be a superstar, but he's a decent boxer. He will surely land on Khan at some point. What will happen?
Khan cant handle punches from LW hows he going to cope against a decent punching LWW who is more experienced and has ultra awkward style which will prob nulify khans greatest asset - his speed
The thing is with Witter evertime he says something like this it reaks of sour grapes.
I always think he suffers from the green eyed monster if he hears anyone at his weight getting a better fight than himself.
It must really suck for Witter after defeating Kotelnik and him now defending against Khan.
Witter must feel sick though after seeing Khan get sparked out, come back with a win over a journeyman and a dodgy decision over a one eyed man, and then get a shot at a LWW world title having never fought at the weight before.
Of course its gonna hurt Witter to see this kind of thing happen ... he`s plodded on for so long and still seems quite a way from getting another chance, then along comes a well connected pretender and will get an easy chance, and if lucky will prob drop the title and have another chance at another easy get me fight .. who can blame Witter
Its got to be so disheartening for the honest enough guys in boxing :(
Witter's beaten Kotelnik hasn't he? As such he is probably well placed to cast an insightful prediction into who will win and how. Why should he not discuss upcoming fights in and around his weight class? Isn't that what people do, boxers and non boxers alike, on this forum every single day?
Wasn't Witter meant to be boxing for the Euro again against the Italian , I thought I saw it scheduled for last month, what happened?
tonyevs wrote:Of course its gonna hurt Witter to see this kind of thing happen ... he`s plodded on for so long and still seems quite a way from getting another chance, then along comes a well connected pretender and will get an easy chance, and if lucky will prob drop the title and have another chance at another easy get me fight .. who can blame Witter
Its got to be so disheartening for the honest enough guys in boxing :(
how on Earth is Kotelnik an "easy" chance. I foresee a very hard fight for Khan. Has Khan stepped up to LWW now and if so is this a permanent move?
search wrote:Back when witter was on hattons undercard in manchester a few times and when they used to have their verbals after the fights in the post fight interview, i always thought junior should have smacked hatton one in the chin and told him he was gonna knock him out in the ring. hatton would really have had no choice then but to fight the guy who smacked him one on live tv. then again, hatton seemed terrified of witter so he might have stil avoided the fight and come out with the "the fight has to be appealing to the public" diatribe.
I`d get myself to the clinic if i were you...I`ve heard DG has been riding juniors knob aswell, and everyone knows that he`s had to work the streets to pay for his crack problem(he never stops talking out of his).....bit of friendly advice for you..free of charge.
search wrote:Back when witter was on hattons undercard in manchester a few times and when they used to have their verbals after the fights in the post fight interview, i always thought junior should have smacked hatton one in the chin and told him he was gonna knock him out in the ring. hatton would really have had no choice then but to fight the guy who smacked him one on live tv. then again, hatton seemed terrified of witter so he might have stil avoided the fight and come out with the "the fight has to be appealing to the public" diatribe.
But then he would have said he wouldn't bow to bully tactics, or to reward someone who was bringing the sport into disrepute.
tonyevs wrote:Of course its gonna hurt Witter to see this kind of thing happen ... he`s plodded on for so long and still seems quite a way from getting another chance, then along comes a well connected pretender and will get an easy chance, and if lucky will prob drop the title and have another chance at another easy get me fight .. who can blame Witter
Its got to be so disheartening for the honest enough guys in boxing :(
how on Earth is Kotelnik an "easy" chance. I foresee a very hard fight for Khan. Has Khan stepped up to LWW now and if so is this a permanent move?
Kotelnik is the easier of the champions at lightweight or lightwelter .. I agree with you it won`t be easy for Khan .. I happen to side with Kotelnik to beat him.
But I don`t see Khan hanging onto a world title if he`s lucky enough to win one, there are too many around there who`ll ko him.
I think - if he`s lucky and wins - he`ll drop the title and drop down to lightweight again in the hope another soft option becomes available at that weight, no way in a million years is he good enough to retain against the decent guys at either weight.
well witter does make some valid points about khan though. like his chin. Kotelnik will try and hit khans chin as he knows thats khan weakness.khans speed can also win him the fight by points.
witter is not bittered as he knows kotelnik as he has fought him. also hes been the WBC world champ in LWW.
Of course, even if Hatton wins you will get those 'wise-after-the-event' numpties telling us Hatton only won because Manny was too small and had his best days at 126lbs and 130lbs. You simply can't win with some people - if Hatton wins then it will be an amazing scalp.
Hatton KO11 after Manny can't handle his body attacks.
