by James Slater – Former WBC light-welterweight champion Junior Witter had better hope he has more luck landing a fight with Amir Khan, British boxing’s new star, than he did in getting a big fight with Ricky Hatton. Witter, who meets unbeaten Devon Alexander on August 1st in an attempt to regain the belt he lost to Timothy Bradley last year, has been talking about Khan’s recent win over Andreas Kotelnik. Also having beaten Kotelnik on points, Witter was not too impressed with Khan’s WBA title-winning performance..
Not only that, but “The Hitter” says he would KO Khan easily and quickly – inside three-rounds – if they were to meet. Forget Witter-Hatton, then (and Khan-Hatton for that matter) – Witter-Khan could be the biggest grudge fight in the UK since the days of Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank!
Speaking to The Sun newspaper, Witter downplayed Khan’s unanimous decision win over Kotelnik.
“Kotelnik didn’t seem to do anything,” said the fighter who had predicted a Kotelnik win. “For me, he just kept chasing Khan around the ring. He followed him round, followed him round and then occasionally threw a couple of shots. He was blocking most of Khan’s work but wasn’t throwing anything. If you don’t throw punches you’re not going to win.”
Witter, a fighter some have accused of being jealous of Ricky Hatton’s success, may now have the same accusation thrown at him with regards to Khan. Still, Junior claims Khan would have no chance against him if they met in the ring.
“I’d knock Khan out in three rounds and I definitely want to avenge the defeat to [Tim] Bradley,” Witter said. “There’s only two fights out there that interest me after [Devon] Alexander – Bradley and Khan. I don’t really think Khan wants to face me but the fight can happen and I have a sneaky suspicion it will.
“I’m not saying Khan hasn’t got any power but he isn’t a puncher. He’s less of a puncher than Kotelnik and I wouldn’t be worried about his power at all. You’ve got to give him respect for his ability to stick to a game-plan, which is what he did against Kotelnik. But I think Khan got the weakest light-welterweight champion on a poor night.”
All of Witter’s talk may be proven academic if he loses badly against Alexander on August 1st, but if he wins and becomes a two-time WBC 140-pound champion a fight between he and Khan would be big. But will Khan take the bait the way Ricky Hatton never did?