By Lem Satterfield
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer has confirmed that former champion Andriy Kotelnik (34-4-1, 13KOs) is being considered as the opponent for Victor Ortiz (27-2-1, 27KOs) on December 4 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Ortiz-Kotelnik would be the HBO televised co-feature to Amir Khan's defense of the WBA title against mandatory challenger Marcos Maidana. The story was first reported by Ruslan Chikov of BoxingScene.com.
Based on Kotelnik being the only fighter to beat Maidana, and his recent performance against WBC/IBF champion Devon Alexander, Ortiz could make a serious statement by beating the tough fighter from Ukraine, says Schaefer. Golden Boy is attempting to finalize a deal with Kotelnik's promoter Don King.
"That would be quite a statement," said Schaefer. "That would be a heckuva a card to have Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana and Victor Ortiz and Andriy Kotelnik fighting on the same night. I think that when you're talking about Andriy Kotelnik, you are looking at a guy who made Devon Alexander look ordinary.
"Now Devon Alexander is a great fighter, and, I mean, he's a really fantastic fighter. And for Andriy Kotelnik to be able to neutralize, in a way, Devon Alexander, then you've got to hand it to Kotelnik that he's a terrific fighter. And Kotelnik had the fight with Amir Khan, where Amir obviously won. Kotelnik also beat Marcos Maidana. So Kotelnik is, obviously, a very talented fighter."
Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here.
