Khan vs. Kotelnik on 6/27 - Amir Moving Up To 140

[lest26]

Jesus Christ! He is 22 and has got a pretty decent resume as far as 22 year olds are concerned. He isn't dodging anyone Frank Warren is his promoter and match maker, taking on prescott was a risk, taking on Barrera even though he was over the hill was a risk, taking on Kotelnik is a risk. Going for the easy option is something that many great fighters have done before him. He is still learning and has had one fight with his new trainer and only got ko'd 3 fights ago, and is now fighting for a world title, after the prescott defeat I and most people in fact would have never thought he'd fight for a world title this quickly.

It is very rare for any fighter to go for the strongest world champ in a division for their first world title fight. If he carried on at lightweight his next fight would have been david diaz, moses for the vacant wba lw belt (if marquez does go up), or kotelnik. I don't think this fight is necessarily easier than those.


Yeah I agree he will look like a fool if he loses after making those comments, but at least he will know where he stands in terms of world level. I can't help thinking your biased and a hater

im not disagreeing with all you are saying, i just dont think he deserves his shot, id say there in 30 or so ppl at light welter if not a hell of a lot more and the same at lightweight of more deserving fighters who could be having that shot, anyway you dont get what you deserve in this game but you always get whats coming to you, he will get his title and he will get badly exposed.

[Dave Rado]

great match making by Khans camp.

Commercially, yes - but in terms of Khan's development as a boxer it was a really ****** move, IMO.

Khan had no problem making Lightweight. He has only faced one credible Lightweight who wasn't a bum, and got knocked out by him. But he does have great talent, and was starting to improve his fundamentals dramatically under Roach. With genuinely good matchmaking (of the Arum sort rather than the Warren sort), he could have been ready to face the real elite Lightweights in a year or so, after facing the likes of David Diaz, then Katsides, then a rematch with Prescott, then an elite contender like Funeka.

Instead he's being thrown in at the deep end before he's had any competitive fights that he can learn from. If he wins this fight, then what? He hasn't had the preparation to enable him to defend against elite contenders. Either the WBA will protect him, if he wins, or he'll lose his first meaningful defence. That's **** matchmaking.

Arum may be a punk in many ways, but at least he knows how to match prospects in order to develop them as fighters. Warren only knows how to match them in order to develop the size of his bank balance.

Pity.

[Dave Rado]

Whether he makes weight "comfortably", depends on interpretation of the word and is up for debate because he is a huge lw, when he stands next to ricky hatton he looks wider than him and obviously he is taller, he makes it up with skinny legs. Even if he didn't, he would say that he made weight comfortably before a fight, Roach even said he though it was amazing that he made lw and couldn't see him there too much longer.

He probably could have made it for another 6-12 months but he has got himself a good fight, so why wait. To be fair like I said before although he is got a fight with a weaker belt holder now, he will have to stay at world class if he wins, and 140 is becoming quite a strong division

He used to have skinny legs pre-Roach, and a muscle-bound back. Now his legs are much sturdier and his back is much more slender. And until this fight came up there was no talk about moving up in the short term - they were talking about Prescott, David Diaz, Valero, even Marquez. So he isn't moving up because of any trouble with the weight, only because Warren thinks this is a winnable fight that will make him a lot of money. Warren has always only been a short term thinker, that's what I hate about the man.

[sunny31]

your the prick if you think Khans a genuine champion, your the prick if you actualy think khan hits hard, exactly how many clean KO'S has he had out of all his stoppages, he is very fast yes but he has no pop in them punches, why aint he fighting anymore decent lightweights, because all the decent ones at that division would KO khan, i wont be shocked if Kotelnik KO's him, khan is a cash cow and nothing else, and rees dose have a harder punch, just fat thats all

Khan a genuine champion? He has to win the fight first, kotelnik is the worst champion ever yet he stopped someone for the belt? He lost a narrow decision to junior witter, but still a bum? Khan has stopped much tougher and more durable guys than rees, both fighters style is based on speed and volume anyway. If you don't think khan punches hard, then you know nothing about boxing. He has had many clean knockdowns, but how many clean ko's do any fighters have? It is a rare ability which the majority of boxers don't possess, doesn't mean he has no pop.

Yeah im sure rees hits harder than khan

[J.B.moneY.]

i'm big on british fighters, but kahn never really impressed me....i see him only as good a gatekeeper for most his carear....like a solid guy, but will never belong in the elite level.....i see that even if his chin hold up, and he just gets rocked, I dont see him as the type of guy that has good mental toughness.

[Dave Rado]

what a ****** move, the guys at 140 punch harder than the guys at 135.

i think khan should atleast grap a alphabet strap at 135 before moving up to 140. the only reason i see for this move is:

1) he's running from a stacked lightweight division and his daddy presscott
2) he's trying to get a shot at hatton win/lose against pac.

Khan's a pawn, it's Warren who's behind this move. Khan would hardly have said that stuff last week about Kotelnik being the worst champion if he'd had any idea that this match might be on the horizon.

I agree that avoiding rematches with Prescott and Barrera might have had something to do with it. But Khan wanted to rematch Prescott (and I'm sure he'd have been willing to rematch Barrera if push came to shove); but he leaves the matchmaking to Warren. Which is unfortunate but he's a young, naive kid, who happens to have talent, he's not a strategic thinker, and you can't blame him for leaving it to his promoter. It's just a shame his promoter is Warren and not Arum.

[sunny31]

He used to have skinny legs pre-Roach, and a muscle-bound back. Now his legs are much sturdier and his back is much more slender. And until this fight came up there was no talk about moving up in the short term - they were talking about Prescott, David Diaz, Valero, even Marquez. So he isn't moving up because of any trouble with the weight, only because Warren thinks this is a winnable fight that will make him a lot of money. Warren has always only been a short term thinker, that's what I hate about the man.

Yeah I agree about Warren he is making some strange career decisions for khan, its like he is very confused about what pace to move him at. But trust me dude he still has very skinny legs, you don't bulk your legs up over a few months or even a year. Leg toning is easy to achieve, leg bulk can take years to achieve especially above the knee. Sorry to sound like a know it all, but a tore my acl about 3 years ago and know a lot on the subject.

The Khan camp have never talked about marquez, never. Frank Warren said he wouldn't put him in with him, Freddie Roach reiterated, and khan himself said he was not ready for marquez on setanta. I can't see him moving back down if he wins the title to be honest, like I said before don't think he could have made lw longer than 12 months, so winning a belt there and defending it a few times was never in team khan's agenda, I think it was always gonna be win a title and move up.

[sunny31]

im not disagreeing with all you are saying, i just dont think he deserves his shot, id say there in 30 or so ppl at light welter if not a hell of a lot more and the same at lightweight of more deserving fighters who could be having that shot, anyway you dont get what you deserve in this game but you always get whats coming to you, he will get his title and he will get badly exposed.

Yeah he may get exposed but to say he is cherry picking through his career is silly, 30 is very over stating as well. Khan = £ that is the main reason he is getting the shot. Ortiz is more deserving mainly based on the arnoutis win. Khan would have probably got his shot at lw in the next fight or 2 anyway, I don't see what the big deal is. Fact is if he beats kotelnik, there are some elite fighters at 140, so I don't see how moving up is him cherry picking fights, especially when he does not pick them. I see this as a big forward step.

[Dave Rado]

seriously buddy, who has ortiz beaten that he should be called the best???

I will agree that ortiz has the potential to become one of the best, but as is, I cannot say that he is among the best right now, nor will defeating him catapult anyone to becomes one of the best at this moment in time.

Vicious circle - can't be called one of the best until he beats a name, but none of the names are willing to fight him because his risk-reward ratio is too high.

[Dave Rado]

its actually pretty much GUARANTEED hel be fighting big names now as number 1:

sky wont televise his fight as ppv unless it is a big attraction etc so he has to get a named fighter

Sky will just build up whoever the WBA makes a mandatory and pretend they're world beaters - casual fans won't know the difference. Just like Sky pretended that Barerra is still close to his peak and that he's a genuine Lightweight, and just like they glossed over the fact that the Barrera fight should have been a NC.

and 2:

hel have to defend his mandatories on that world belt if he wins which means no matter how hard he tries he will be forced to fight big names or be shamed, khan is a bit of a nutter and i truly believe would fight anyone at any weight lol..its only ever been his promoter who stopped him but even warren cant do **** once he wins this belt as he will really have to fight the big boys!

The WBA rankings are **** - look at who Kessler has fought.