BoxRec

If Khan`s fitness is 100% and he can maintain the defence throughout the fight, then he should win it.

However, I feel he might start to tire in the late rounds, especially if it`s a hard pace and this is when i think Kotelnik will get to him.

It`s 11/4 for a Kotelnik KO, not bad odds at all.

I saw someone has said premature stoppage in Khans favour. It would not suprise me.

It all depends how patient Khan is. I've always thought Amir looks really good when things are going his way and when he's settled into his rhythm. Firing off the fast combinations and basically having it all his own way. But we've all seen how easily ruffled he is when an opponent doesn't follow the script and the big question for me is how will he react when the awkward Kotelnik is still making life difficult in the later rounds.
Kotelnik has a good chin and is a good boxer, he's no mug and I think he's clever enough to adapt to make things awkward for Amir. The step up in weight would also suggest Kotelnik won't be bullied as easily as the smaller guys Khan has fought.
The way I see it going is Khan dominating the first 3 rounds with his fast hands and good combinations, Kotelnik will probably do very little except keep a high guard and try and frustrate Amir.
As the fight goes on I can see Amir getting more wound up and swallowing a few counters.
Then will be the true test of how he has developed under Roach. Not only is Khan's chin suspect, but he seems to panic everytime he ships a punch and fires back with wild shots, leaving his chin out to dry. As the fight goes on and Khan realises this is going the long haul and Kotelnik is going to be bloody awkward, he'll have to take a back step and concentrate on boxing smart. But will he do this? Or will he let his frustrations get the better of him and start doing silly things to try and get Kotelnik out of there. If Khan falls into this trap then it's bread and butter for Kotelnik and I think he'll take control of the fight. But if Khan keeps control and sticks to his rhythm, he can win a unanimous but hard fought points decision.
Khan will have developed loads in the gym with Roach, but it's whether he can put that into practice in the ring that is the big question.

lirva wrote:Luckyshaka, you don't seem to be able to grasp simple points. You are arguing that Limmond hits harder than Kotelnik.

Think about that.

Barrera hits harder than Willie Limond....didn't stop Khan from boxing his head off for the duration of their bout. Kotelnik would suffer a similar fate.

Think about that

lurkyshaka wrote:

lirva wrote:Luckyshaka, you don't seem to be able to grasp simple points. You are arguing that Limmond hits harder than Kotelnik.

Think about that.

Barrera hits harder than Willie Limond....didn't stop Khan from boxing his head off for the duration of their bout. Kotelnik would suffer a similar fate.

Think about that

Barrera was in no position to either fight or defend himself after the injury. The fight should have been stopped there and then. Khan was "favoured" by letting it go on. No credit to Khan at all for getting the decision over Barrera.

WildWaylon wrote:

lurkyshaka wrote:

lirva wrote:Luckyshaka, you don't seem to be able to grasp simple points. You are arguing that Limmond hits harder than Kotelnik.

Think about that.

Barrera hits harder than Willie Limond....didn't stop Khan from boxing his head off for the duration of their bout. Kotelnik would suffer a similar fate.

Think about that

Barrera was in no position to either fight or defend himself after the injury. The fight should have been stopped there and then. Khan was "favoured" by letting it go on. No credit to Khan at all for getting the decision over Barrera.

What nonsense. lewis cut klitschko's face wide open and he still wanted to fight. the fact that barrera was using it as an excuse for his loss and didnt want to continue just showed that he knew he didnt stand a chance. He was getting thrashed before the cut. His corner could have insisted the cut was too bad if they had wanted to.

No offence but Barrera was not getting thrashed before the cut happened! The fight had barely started! Not saying the outcome would have been anything different but to suggest that Barrera was getting thrashed in the opening minute of a fight makes me think your comments are based purely on being Khans number one fan.

lurkyshaka wrote:

lirva wrote:Luckyshaka, you don't seem to be able to grasp simple points. You are arguing that Limmond hits harder than Kotelnik.

Think about that.

Barrera hits harder than Willie Limond....didn't stop Khan from boxing his head off for the duration of their bout. Kotelnik would suffer a similar fate.

Think about that

Of course Barrera hits as hard as Limond, but he wasn't throwing anything, so it didn't really matter. Khan could be facing David Tua or Ernie Shavers, but if they decided not to throw punches nothing would happen to that glass chin.


Khan was controlling Barrera during the fights duration, but a question mark about him is how will he do over twelve rounds. I still think Khan would have won, but imo Barrera would have been more dangerous over the second half of the fight. What questions did that fight answer that we didn't already know about Khan?

crusader wrote:

lurkyshaka wrote:

lirva wrote:Luckyshaka, you don't seem to be able to grasp simple points. You are arguing that Limmond hits harder than Kotelnik.

Think about that.

Barrera hits harder than Willie Limond....didn't stop Khan from boxing his head off for the duration of their bout. Kotelnik would suffer a similar fate.

Think about that

Of course Barrera hits as hard as Limond, but he wasn't throwing anything, so it didn't really matter. Khan could be facing David Tua or Ernie Shavers, but if they decided not to throw punches nothing would happen to that glass chin.


Khan was controlling Barrera during the fights duration, but a question mark about him is how will he do over twelve rounds. I still think Khan would have won, but imo Barrera would have been more dangerous over the second half of the fight. What questions did that fight answer that we didn't already know about Khan?

That he could stick to a fight plan to a tee and simply not get involved...which is something he has to do seeing as his punch resistance isn't good.

He will box Kotelnik's head off all night. Andreas will struggle to land a glove on him. I'm happy to hold myself accountable by saying now how it'll go. If i'm wrong so be it, i'll be here to admit my error. But i won't be wrong. I will be spot on correct.

DaveyH wrote:No offence but Barrera was not getting thrashed before the cut happened! The fight had barely started! Not saying the outcome would have been anything different but to suggest that Barrera was getting thrashed in the opening minute of a fight makes me think your comments are based purely on being Khans number one fan.

that comment makes me think you didnt even watch the fight. Tell me how many times barrera threatened khan or even managed to punch him. lets also bare in mind barrera headbutted khan not the other way round whilst he was getting smashed up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjysgxzR8HY

I take it Hatton wasnt getting thrashed by paquaio in the first round then? because it was too early to tell? lol

It was the first minute of the fight and Khan always starts fast! All I'm saying is that it was very hard to tell anything from that fight because of how it turned out. It wasn't Khans fault, he did what he had to do, but Barrera isn't the type of fighter to go out throwing bombs from the first minute. He has endless patience.
The Barrera fight told us nothing about Khan really other than he's very good offensively and fast handed, but we already knew that. He had a badly cut opponent who threw about 5 shots the whole fight, Khan would have needed his hands and legs tied together to not look good against that.
You're obviously a big fan of Khans and get upset when people criticise him, and thats fair enough, some people are sensitive souls and I'm sure Amir is very happy to know he's got a superfan like you.
Personally, I just want to see him do well against opponents that will test him, so we can see what he's really capable of. I'd like to see him in there with someone as good offensively as he is so we can see just how much his defence has improved under Roach. He didn't get that in the Fagan or Barrera fights, for whatever reason.

I can't believe how many newbie Khan fans have suddenly appeared out of the woodwork to defend him.

The bottom line is, anyone who says that Kotelnik 'doesn't have a chance against Khan' because 'he isn't a hitter' clearly knows nothing about boxing.

Plus why all the references to the Barrera fight? Everyone who has a rudimentary knowledge of the game could see Khan flapping away at a totally handicapped man with blood rushing down his face, unable to see and unable to fight back - and Khan unable to hurt him. When Barrera DID land one, Khan's legs buckled and the fight was conveniently stopped!

..And then there are the people who believe Khan was 'giving a boxing lesson', 'outclassing him', etc.

One poster even says in this very thread that Barrera used the cut as 'an excuse' for the loss!

Riddick Blowe wrote:I can't believe how many newbie Khan fans have suddenly appeared out of the woodwork to defend him.

Never!!

if khan wins then he will leave warren

Riddick Blowe wrote:I can't believe how many newbie Khan fans have suddenly appeared out of the woodwork to defend him.

The bottom line is, anyone who says that Kotelnik 'doesn't have a chance against Khan' because 'he isn't a hitter' clearly knows nothing about boxing.

Plus why all the references to the Barrera fight? Everyone who has a rudimentary knowledge of the game could see Khan flapping away at a totally handicapped man with blood rushing down his face, unable to see and unable to fight back - and Khan unable to hurt him. When Barrera DID land one, Khan's legs buckled and the fight was conveniently stopped!

..And then there are the people who believe Khan was 'giving a boxing lesson', 'outclassing him', etc.

One poster even says in this very thread that Barrera used the cut as 'an excuse' for the loss!

Im not a newbie fan, nor am i particularly a Khan fan atall. I know he has some huge flaws, but i recognise his talent.

Why do you try and paint anyone who thinks Khan has his way in this fight as a no nothing?? I feel i know my boxing, well i'd certainly hope so seeing as i'm a former amateur champion, have been involved in the sport for over 20 years now and am a writer for the13thround.

Is it not possible that i along with others just like the style matchup here for Khan?

You point out some admittedly daft things that folk have said regarding Khan's win over Barrera...fair enough, but then you come out with a load of daft stuff yourself.

The cut was unfortunate and of course a factor, but Khan fought a superb fight that night against Barrera and looked excellent. He certainly wasn't 'flapping away' as you put it. He used a stack of movement and used sensible raiding tactics which made the best use of his speed and mobility whilst protecting his vulnerable chin.

He uses the same tactics against Kotelnik and he'll defeat Kotelnik with room to spare.

Im not one to blow my own trumpet.....well ok actually i am

So lets see some of those that bashed Khan pre-fight and were telling me i didn't know what i was talking about now admit they totally underestimated the kid! Riddick Blowe where are you??

Amir boxed the fight he needed to and basically whitewashed a solid beltholder. He stuck to a plan and didn't deviate, leaving his opponent frustrated and chasing shadows. Khan's speed allowing him to stay a few steps ahead all night long. And on the few moments he did get tagged, he tucked up and didn't get involved in wild swinging. Above everything else, his boxing displayed control and defense to go along with his usual speed.

However on a cautionary note, we know he'll always be in danger against opponents with some genuine power, against punchers it'll always be real edge of seat stuff when watching Khan. Keeping that chin out of harms way has to be first and foremost in Amir's mind at all times. But so far so good on that score. His defense is vastly improved, and he and his coach should be given credit for that. A one round shellacking would destroy forever some fighters, but Khan has learnt from it, regrouped and came back a far better fighter.

That was an excellent performance from a young man still very much a work in progress, credit where its due.

I actually gave Khan credit in the other thread, entitled 'What did Khan do wrong this time'.

You blowing your own trumpet now is all well and good, I probably would have done the same, but you still said some ridiculous things that couldn't be backed up prior to this fight, such as 'Kotelnik doesn't have the punch to stop Khan'. Of course, you feel like a genius after the event when Kotelnik couldn't in fact find the punch to stop Khan, but making boxing predictions is about weighing up the evidence and the facts you have and coming to a logical conclusion. The fact was, bearing in mind the light hitters Khan had been decked by previously, this statement was bogus. There was also no evidence to suggest Khan could step up a division and beat a legitimate top 10 fighter when he had never shown anything to suggest he could even beat a top 10 fighter at lightweight, a division down (something he still hasn't done, incidentally).

Nevertheless, as does happen sometimes in boxing, logic went out the window, the lad fought a good fight and surprised me by actually being able to take a few shots en route to the win.

He has improved a lot, but if he wants to hit the heights some posters on this forum believe he can, he'll have to step in with the best, and somehow, for some reason, I'm not sure that will happen...

lurkyshaka wrote:Im not one to blow my own trumpet.....well ok actually i am

So lets see some of those that bashed Khan pre-fight and were telling me i didn't know what i was talking about now admit they totally underestimated the kid! Riddick Blowe where are you??

Amir boxed the fight he needed to and basically whitewashed a solid beltholder. He stuck to a plan and didn't deviate, leaving his opponent frustrated and chasing shadows. Khan's speed allowing him to stay a few steps ahead all night long. And on the few moments he did get tagged, he tucked up and didn't get involved in wild swinging. Above everything else, his boxing displayed control and defense to go along with his usual speed.

However on a cautionary note, we know he'll always be in danger against opponents with some genuine power, against punchers it'll always be real edge of seat stuff when watching Khan. Keeping that chin out of harms way has to be first and foremost in Amir's mind at all times. But so far so good on that score. His defense is vastly improved, and he and his coach should be given credit for that. A one round shellacking would destroy forever some fighters, but Khan has learnt from it, regrouped and came back a far better fighter.

That was an excellent performance from a young man still very much a work in progress, credit where its due.

Bottom line is the Kotelnik punches never had the effect many thought they would, credit to Khan for taking what did land but still fully expect to see him on his arse as soon as he gets in with a decent puncher.

Riddick Blowe wrote:

I actually gave Khan credit in the other thread, entitled 'What did Khan do wrong this time'.

You blowing your own trumpet now is all well and good, I probably would have done the same, but you still said some ridiculous things that couldn't be backed up prior to this fight, such as 'Kotelnik doesn't have the punch to stop Khan'. Of course, you feel like a genius after the event when Kotelnik couldn't in fact find the punch to stop Khan, but making boxing predictions is about weighing up the evidence and the facts you have and coming to a logical conclusion. The fact was, bearing in mind the light hitters Khan had been decked by previously, this statement was bogus. There was also no evidence to suggest Khan could step up a division and beat a legitimate top 10 fighter when he had never shown anything to suggest he could even beat a top 10 fighter at lightweight, a division down (something he still hasn't done, incidentally).

Nevertheless, as does happen sometimes in boxing, logic went out the window, the lad fought a good fight and surprised me by actually being able to take a few shots en route to the win.

He has improved a lot, but if he wants to hit the heights some posters on this forum believe he can, he'll have to step in with the best, and somehow, for some reason, I'm not sure that will happen...

Making boxing predictions is also about having a feeling for how a fight will play out. Call it a hunch after you look at the strengths, weaknesses and intangibles.

Quite clearly my pre-fight statement wasn't bogus. I said on various threads that Kotelnik was a tidy boxer, but lacked the dig to really threaten Khan. I acknowledged Khan's chin is less than stellar but noted that Kotelnik didn't have one punch power and wouldn't land anywhere near enough for accumulation to come into effect. I was spot on correct.

But this isn't about me getting credit for being correct on something that frankly was clear and easy to be correct about, after looking into what both fighters brought to the table. This is about those that for some reason seem to hate Khan, just giving him an ounce of credit for doing what they suggested was way beyond him.

Logic didn't go out of the window as you now suggest, truth is logically the far faster boxer stayed well ahead of his opponent for 12 rounds and took a comfortable decision. Is it really so hard for you to just admit you were way off this time.

We all know Khan's chin is sh*tty, so he probably will come unglued at some point. But on this fight specifically he totally proved you wrong. So maybe give the lad some credit without the sour grapes attitude.

Mind you i'd probably be pretty p*ssed off if i'd lost dough on this fight as i'm aware you did, so perhaps your attitude now is a tad understandable. But hey, if it makes you feel any better i laid 3 figures on young Amir when the odds were 4/9 so the drinks are on me

Hey, you may have missed it but I did give Khan credit, he fought a good fight. So no sour grapes from me.

As far as the fight was concerned, logic did go out of the window. There's no reason why Khan could be heavily decked by Willie Limond but take a similar shot against Kotelnik without the same result. It might have been an improvement in conditioning, who knows. If you could present me a compelling argument that convinces me how you can go from taking a flush shot from a non punching super featherweight, being decked heavily and nearly stopped, to taking a flush shot from a proportionally slightly harder punching light welterweight and not being troubled at all, feel free.

Riddick Blowe wrote:Hey, you may have missed it but I did give Khan credit, he fought a good fight. So no sour grapes from me.

As far as the fight was concerned, logic did go out of the window. There's no reason why Khan could be heavily decked by Willie Limond but take a similar shot against Kotelnik without the same result. It might have been an improvement in conditioning, who knows. If you could present me a compelling argument that convinces me how you can go from taking a flush shot from a non punching super featherweight, being decked heavily and nearly stopped, to taking a flush shot from a proportionally slightly harder punching light welterweight and not being troubled at all, feel free.

Extra resistance gained from the climb in weight possibly? Similar to Cotto as he moved up in weight his chin improved. Khan will never have a good chin but those extra few pounds on his frame might be a factor.

But in truth far too much was made of the Limond fight. Willie landed a pearler and hurt Khan, its boxing, it happens. There are a load of factors in why a fighters gets hurt in one fight but seems to take punches better in another. Timing, mindset,surprise factor, weight issue i already mentioned, conditioning you mentioned..etc

I don't doubt that it was somewhere within Kotelnik to significantly hurt Khan with a punch....but all things being equal i didn't expect that to happen based on their styles and the fact that Kotelnik isn't a puncher of any note. He could like Limond have found a beaut, but was never really likely too. The odds were always against him.

Khan was faster, better and outboxed him beautifully. I expected that as you know, but for sure he still deserves credit. Having the potential is one thing, but he executed the gameplan to a tee.

I have my concerns for Khan against anyone with a genuine dig of course, but he and his coach are doing all they can to protect his chin with the way he's now fighting. Thats all they can do. There have been chinny fighters before Khan who have still been successful despite their lack of resistance, and there will be plenty more in the future. You play the hand you got. Many fighters would be just about f*cked if they had a poor chin, but Khan's physical gifts in other areas are such that he still has the scope to be a success.