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News - By Eric Thomas:
As lightweight Amir Khan (20-1, 15 KO’s) quickly approaches his June 27th bout against WBA light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik at the O2 Arena, in London, Khan revealed some shocking news when he said that he’s now interested in facing Ricky Hatton in the near future. Previously, Khan had said that he would never fight Hatton, 30, because of their close friendship.
However, it seems that Khan for whatever reason has had a change of heart about it, saying “It would be a brilliant fight for fans to see our style. I’m a boxer, he’s a pressure fighter. But will leave it to the promoters. If it doesn’t come off, it does not bother me cause there will be huge fights in the future.”
Khan, 22, then went on to point out that he could be fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Juan Manuel Marquez “two to three fights down the line.” If that does turn out to be the case for Khan, then, yes, it would be much bigger than a fight the likes of Hatton would be.
However, there are a lot of question marks about the future for Khan, because he first has to get by the tough World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Kotelnik four weeks from now and that’s a fight that Khan may have problems with.
Kotelnik, 31, is tough, has excellent boxing skills, a great jab and can punch at times. Khan hasn’t had to go the distance very often in his four year pro career, only being forced to go the distance five times in his career. The reason why this is such a big deal is because it gives Kotelnik more opportunities the longer the fight goes to land something against Khan’s brittle chin.
While some of Khan’s biggest fans argue that Amir’s chin isn’t weak, his fights would seem to suggest otherwise as he’s been knocked down by several fighters and stunned many times in his shot career. Khan was knocked out last year by Breidis Prescott in the 1st round, a fight where Khan was staggered early in the round by a jab.
Khan was also staggered in his last fight with Marco Antonio Barrera in the 2nd round. Barrera, 35, isn’t much of a puncher at lightweight and it was troubling to see Khan hurt by one of his hooks in the fight. Kotelnik is even bigger than Barrera, and clearly a better puncher than him.
Still, it’s a fight where Khan may have a chance to survive without being knocked out, but it’s a fight almost certain where Khan will absorb a lot of punishment before it’s over. Amir has been mostly shielded in England up to this point in his boxing career and besides the fight with Prescott, Khan has faced no one else with talent enough to threaten him.
Barrera would have been huge trouble for Khan had he been five years younger, but not at this point in his career. However, if Khan can get the win over Kotelnik, then it would be a great for boxing if he and Hatton can get together. Hatton, obviously, doesn’t need this fight because he’s already wealthy and might not be interested.
Hatton is coming off a bad knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao on May 2nd and there’s speculation that Hatton will fight only more time before he retires from boxing. In that case, it’s highly unlikely that Hatton would chose Khan for his final fight of his career because Michael Katsidis has already been mentioned as a potential opponent for Hatton. Khan would easily be the better choice for a big money fight but Hatton might not care about money now.
As lightweight Amir Khan (20-1, 15 KO’s) quickly approaches his June 27th bout against WBA light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik at the O2 Arena, in London, Khan revealed some shocking news when he said that he’s now interested in facing Ricky Hatton in the near future. Previously, Khan had said that he would never fight Hatton, 30, because of their close friendship.
However, it seems that Khan for whatever reason has had a change of heart about it, saying “It would be a brilliant fight for fans to see our style. I’m a boxer, he’s a pressure fighter. But will leave it to the promoters. If it doesn’t come off, it does not bother me cause there will be huge fights in the future.”
Khan, 22, then went on to point out that he could be fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Juan Manuel Marquez “two to three fights down the line.” If that does turn out to be the case for Khan, then, yes, it would be much bigger than a fight the likes of Hatton would be.
However, there are a lot of question marks about the future for Khan, because he first has to get by the tough World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Kotelnik four weeks from now and that’s a fight that Khan may have problems with.
Kotelnik, 31, is tough, has excellent boxing skills, a great jab and can punch at times. Khan hasn’t had to go the distance very often in his four year pro career, only being forced to go the distance five times in his career. The reason why this is such a big deal is because it gives Kotelnik more opportunities the longer the fight goes to land something against Khan’s brittle chin.
While some of Khan’s biggest fans argue that Amir’s chin isn’t weak, his fights would seem to suggest otherwise as he’s been knocked down by several fighters and stunned many times in his shot career. Khan was knocked out last year by Breidis Prescott in the 1st round, a fight where Khan was staggered early in the round by a jab.
Khan was also staggered in his last fight with Marco Antonio Barrera in the 2nd round. Barrera, 35, isn’t much of a puncher at lightweight and it was troubling to see Khan hurt by one of his hooks in the fight. Kotelnik is even bigger than Barrera, and clearly a better puncher than him.
Still, it’s a fight where Khan may have a chance to survive without being knocked out, but it’s a fight almost certain where Khan will absorb a lot of punishment before it’s over. Amir has been mostly shielded in England up to this point in his boxing career and besides the fight with Prescott, Khan has faced no one else with talent enough to threaten him.
Barrera would have been huge trouble for Khan had he been five years younger, but not at this point in his career. However, if Khan can get the win over Kotelnik, then it would be a great for boxing if he and Hatton can get together. Hatton, obviously, doesn’t need this fight because he’s already wealthy and might not be interested.
Hatton is coming off a bad knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao on May 2nd and there’s speculation that Hatton will fight only more time before he retires from boxing. In that case, it’s highly unlikely that Hatton would chose Khan for his final fight of his career because Michael Katsidis has already been mentioned as a potential opponent for Hatton. Khan would easily be the better choice for a big money fight but Hatton might not care about money now.
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