By Mark Vester
At the MEN Arena in Manchester, UK star Amir Khan (21-1, 16KOs) moved up in weight to capture the WBA junior welterweight title win a twelve round unanimous decision over Andreas Kotelnik (31-3-1, 13KOs). The scores were 120-108, 118-111 and 118-111.
Khan was getting his punches off in the first by using his quick hands to box Kotelnik with his jab and combinations, then move away before the counters came in his direction. Khan also dug plenty of hooks to the body. Khan continued to use his faster hands and movement to cause a lot of problems for Kotelnik. Kotelnik let some combinations go at the start of the third, with Khan coming back with some combinations of his own. Khan was still able to outbox Kotelnik with quicker punches as the fighters came into the fourth, where Kotelnik was starting to pick up the pace and blocking a lot of shots.
Kotelnik began to walk Khan down in the fifth. He was landing well and blocking most of Khan's counter combinations. Khan was unable to land much to Kotelnik's head. He was able to land some hooks to the body. Khan started pumping the jab at the start of the sixth. He was pushing Kotelnik back with multiple combinations. Most of the punches were blocked but the force was still able to move Kotelnik. By the midway point, Khan had thrown more than double of what Kotelnik pumped out.
Khan opened up the seventh with some hard right hands. Kotelnik made a mistake by following Khan around and taking some big shots to the body as he tried to come inside. Kotelnik continued to follow Khan around in the eight. Khan was landing well when Kotelnik came in, but the champion was landing some good hooks to the head and body. Kotelnik was still pressing forward in the ninth, Khan kept him at bay with the jab and body punches.
Kotelnik appeared to be very frustrated in the tenth. He chased Khan around the ring and took some shots. Kotelnik made Khan stand and fight at times but his hands were too slow to land the big counters. Khan's suspect chin was able to stand strong when Kotelnik caught him with a hard right hand in the eleventh. Kotelnik really let his hands go in the eleventh but Khan was able to cover up well and threw some decent counters in return.
As the two entered the ring for the twelfth and final round, Kotelnik appeared to be fresher. Kotelnik knew he was behind on the cards. He was charging forward and throwing power punches from both hands to score a knockout. Khan stood his ground at times to throw some counter combinations. Khan appeared to coast as he knew Kotelnik was far behind on points and looking for the knockout.
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