Nice article by Dougie Fischer over at The Ring, as Amir gets ready for his big shot at...Kotelnik?
Strange to hear Freddie talk about Ortiz, a fighter he likes, getting wobbled and dropped in gyms - Trainers usualy keep schtum about that sort of thing. I bet that never happens to Khan of course!
Two L.A. gyms stay busy during the summer doldrums
Posted Jul. 2, 2009 at 01:00am
By Doug Fischer
The last time I made the rounds to number of Southern California boxing clubs in the same week for a feature story I think covered four gyms in three days.
This time I only visited two on two days (Monday and Wednesday of this week). What can I say, the summer months are a typically slow period in the sport and the lack of high-profile activity is reflected in most of the local gyms.
However, two popular gyms -- the Wild Card and Maywood boxing clubs -- remain crowded with top contenders, talented prospects and promising amateur fighters.
On Monday, I dropped by the Wild Card Boxing Club at the corner of North Vine Street and Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood, Calif.
I was on the phone with an East Coast boxing writer as I walked through the door of trainer Freddie Roach’s famous gym. The writer asked me if “anyone of note” was currently working out there and I told him I thought Amir Khan was back after taking a week off following the postponement of his title shot against Andreas Kotelnik.
Just as I mentioned the lightweight contender’s name a broad-shouldered young man standing by the front desk with his back to me turned around to see who was talking. It was Khan.
The 2004 Olympic silver medalist was about to have his hands wrapped by Roach. I hung up with my friend and quickly joined the conversation between the British up-and-comer and his coach.
The buzz throughout the gym that day, as can be expected, was Saturday’s shootout between Victor Ortiz and Marcos Maidana; and of course Ortiz’s submission and bizarre post-fight comments dominated most of the discussion.
Roach believes Ortiz had -- and still has -- and ton of potential. He likes the young man, personally. However, he was not surprised that Ortiz was eventually overwhelmed by a strong and relentless fighter like Maidana.
Over the years, Roach had seen Ortiz dropped and wobbled while sparring in his gym; a few times badly enough to have the sessions halted. The young man has many gifts but an iron chin isn’t one of them. It doesn’t mean Ortiz can’t come back all the way, but he’ll need to learn how to protect that beard of his the way Khan is under Roach’s tutelage.
Khan, who has rebounded nicely from the first-round KO he suffered just two fights ago, was the one fighter in the gym who wasn’t talking about Ortiz’s in-the-ring comments to Max Kellerman after the fight. His focus was on Maidana’s post-fight interview.
Khan fights Kotelnik for the WBA title in Manchester on July 18. The winner of that bout will have 90 days to negotiate a fight with Maidana, who won the “interim” title Saturday, or risk being stripped by the Panama-based sanctioning organization. When asked who he preferred to fight next, Khan or Kotelnik, Maidana brushed Khan off as “not that big a deal, not that hard” of a potential opponent.
Khan (20-1, 15 knockouts) begs to differ.
“I’m not afraid of Maidana,” said Khan, who was ringside for Saturday’s slugfest. “If we fight you better believe that I won’t make the same mistake Ortiz did and fight his fight. He won’t catch me with those crazy right hands. Maidana was lucky that Ortiz didn’t stick to boxing and that he was probably caught up in the moment.
“The pressure was on Ortiz. It was his first title fight, his first main event, the first time he was the center of HBO’s attention. Some fighters can cope with that. Some can’t.”
Khan, who is practically a household name in Britain, is used to pressure -- outside of the ring. Inside the ring might be a different story. Luckily for him, Kotelnik, who owns a close split-decision over Maidana, is not a pressure fighter. The Ukrainian titleholder is a strong-willed technician and counter-puncher. In many ways, he’s perfect for Khan because he likes to box from a distance and he doesn’t carry a lot of power. However, Kotelnik is experienced and battle tested as his 12-round bout with Maidana attests to.
Khan and Roach, who will both leave for the fighter’s private gym in his native Bolton, England on Friday, have their work cut out for them.
But from what I’ve seen of his intense sparring sessions with Rashad Holloway and Abdulai Amidu from previous weeks, and from the mitt work I observed on Monday, Khan is ready.
His speed and reflexes are off the charts, and his technique is constantly improving. Roach is getting him to tuck his chin, teaching him not over-extend himself when launching his right, and even encouraging the young buck to drop a mean short left hook (a punch we’re not used to seeing from Khan, but a formidable weapon for the 22-year-old speed demon).
One of Khan’s ringside observers was Vanes Martirosyan, an undefeated junior middleweight prospect who is coming off sixth-round stoppage of Andrey Tsurkan in Atlantic City on Saturday.
The knuckles on both of Martirosyan’s hands were swollen from pounding the Russian’s hard head, but he was in good spirits.
“That was probably my best performance as a professional,” Martirosyan (25-0, 16 KOs) said. “I was on my toes, jabbing effortlessly. I felt totally comfortable in the ring, but I was doing damage. From the fourth round on the commission wanted to stop the fight. Tsurkan’s corner finally threw in the towel at the end of the sixth.”
Martirosyan says his next fight will be on the undercard of the proposed November 14 Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto showdown (which, by the way, Roach says is close but still not a done deal).
The 23-year-old boxer-puncher believes he’s ready to step up to world-class opposition.
“Hopefully, I can get Cory Spinks for the IBF title,” he said. “If not him, than maybe Paul Williams. I mean it. If nobody else wants to fight him, I’ll fight him.”
After working the mitts with Khan, Roach switched his attention to Bernabe Concepcion. The 21-year-old featherweight contender from the Philippines is scheduled to challenge WBO titleholder Steven Luevano in Las Vegas on August 15.
Concepcion (29-1-1, 16 KOs) doesn’t have sharpest technique, but he’s strong and he can punch. I don’t think Concepcion can beat Luevano, who I believe is underrated, but he can make things interesting.
NO MOORER MICHAEL
Roach looked a little worn out after working mitts with Khan and Concepcion. I’m not alone in the opinion that he’s grossly overworked. Sadly, former heavyweight champ Michael Moorer, who appeared to be the assistant trainer/gym enforcer that Roach needed has parted ways with the Wild Card.
“It just didn’t work out,” Roach’s personal assistant Marie Spivey told me on Monday. “Michael was let go on June 12.”
Some of the gym regulars were sad to see Moorer go. Most were relieved that he was gone. Moorer is an intelligent man, an astute observer of the sport, and a potentially very good trainer; however, he’s also extremely guarded, distrustful, sullen, and sometimes downright surely.
“Couldn’t you tell that he was gone when you walked in the place?” Roach’s older brother Pepper asked rhetorically. “You can breathe again! You can joke around! It’s OK to smile!”
http://www.ringtv.com/blog/836/two_la_g ... _doldrums/
