Khan-Toon Violence
By: Andrew Harrison
Category: amir kahn, andriy kotelnik, breidis prescott, dmitriy salita, kevin mitchell
Well, now that there’s next to no chance of grabbing a ticket for tomorrow evening’s Amir Khan-Dmitriy Salita light welterweight title match in Newcastle, I’m rather predictably desperate to attend. Is the grass really always greener? I’m actually tempted to travel the 15 minutes from my house to the venue, Newcastle’s Metro Arena (just yon side of the iconic green bridge in the picture above) to seek out men I usually avoid like the plague. Dreaded ticket touts.
The city’s participants are regularly depicted as fun loving, sports mad and fond of a good old knees up and to be fair, that’d be about right. It should therefore, be a pretty raucous atmosphere which greets the fighters when they emerge into the sold out 10 000 seater arena.
When tickets for this scrap were originally released, I was in the midst of a nationwide boxing tour and rather snootily turned my nose up at the line up (Kevin Mitchell v Ricky Burns as chief support? No thank you Mr.Warren). Again, predictably, it was shuffled about and now contains what has to be the most exciting fight domestically (on paper at least) staged this year, with Dagenham’s Mitchell now taking on Columbian puncher Breidis Prescott.
Sigh.
I should really have been all over this one like a rash, Salita staying just up the road in Gateshead and running of a morning along the Tyne on Newcastle’s quayside, a regular haunt of mine. Slack work there then, which I can only blame really on a lack of enthusiasm for the chief participants.
Despite going out on PPV in the UK and being marketed as ‘the first defence’ for young Amir, in reality this is a fight between a top ten rated light welterweight and a guy who ranks somewhere between 10-20. The best fighter at 140 lbs is the incomparable Manny Pacquiao, who fights on a different plane entirely to the two boys vying for Khan’s WBA championship.
Khan’s best win to date came against the functional but unspectacular Andreas Kotelnik last time out, a fight where improvements were visible, thanks to Miami guru Freddie Roach’s influence.
Amir’s defence has tightened up considerably under Roach, with much emphasis placed on protecting his rather unreliable chin. Freddie has his young charge firing off super quick combinations, never quite committing to any real power with them, which in turn allows him to keep his chin at a distance where he can pull back out of danger when it first rears its ugly head.
From what I’ve seen of Salita, he’s an all round decent enough technician, who does everything ok and nothing great. His record demands respect 30-0 (16), however closer inspection returns…..well, not a lot really, there isn’t anyone even approaching world class on there to be frank.
Khan, 21-1 (15) will look to box, constantly peppering Salita with rapid combos. The challenger meanwhile, will be trying to grab a foothold in the fight which he can steadily build upon, hoping that his correct punching can rattle Khan and slow him down.
Whether he can do this though is debateable; word on the street is that Salita has struggled to make weight, which means he’ll likely fade down the stretch, just when he needs to be coming on strong.
Tipping Amir always comes with an asterix (a bit like the current version of Roy Jones Jr). Due to the fact he’s been buzzed by men like feather punching Willie Limond, the unremarkable Rachid Drizlane and blown up super feather Michael Gomez, his chin could let him down again at any time. I go for Khan though, probably by decision and more due to his opponent’s shortcomings really than any great faith I have in the improving speedster from Bolton.
William Hill has Khan at a too short 1/7 favourite with Salita out at 4/1.
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Mitchell-Prescott
Now this is more like it.
In an undercard battle which intrigues far more than the main event manages to, Kevin Mitchell’s first foray into the lightweight ranks is an audacious one, tackling the man who, just over a year ago, blitzkrieged Khan in 54 seconds.
His opponent, the rangy and lead-fisted Columbian banger, Breidis Prescott, will be looking to thrust himself back to the head of the queue for a Khan showdown in the new year with an impressive win over the former British super featherweight champion.
This one’s a pig to pick and thanks to my poor record just recently, I don’t feel confident enough to chance my arm.
Mitchell is 29-0 (22), yet the 25 year old’s career has floundered somewhat of late. The quick little banger from the capital will be hoping to gatecrash the fringes of world class with a win here. A former ABA champion at featherweight, Mitchell possesses good boxing skills, yet has too often discarded these in order to brawl with his opponents, moving into range and chopping away with meaty hooks to body and head, in a bid to remove the other man swiftly from the contest.
The knock against Mitchell has been his defence. His lack of head movement and wide swatting, leaves him susceptible to being tagged himself, especially with left hooks, something he must avoid at all costs against Prescott.
Breidis, currently 21-1 (18), is a big, tall and gangling lightweight with bricks for fists. The young lad’s future looked rosy after his demolition job on Khan, however he failed to build on his springboard victory. After a protracted period of contract wrangling, Prescott had been pencilled in for a nuclear war with the dynamite fisted Edwin Valero, however the fight disappointingly fell through. Worse than that, he lost his first contest last time out, via split decision against Mexican Miguel Vazquez, despite flooring his man with a jab in the opening round.
Prescott throws a devilish left hook which, despite travelling some distance, arrives with immense power, such is the way he whips in his punches. Reportedly having sparred the dynamic Yuriorkis Gamboa in the build up, Prescott has arrived into town late, bullish and seemingly unconcerned by the challenge Mitchell presents.
Vazquez illustrated the way to defeat Prescott, by boxing behind a smart jab whilst mixing in tenacious infighting in close, smothering the Columbian and not allowing him enough distance to land his booming shots. Prescott finished that fight with a badly busted left eye which hampered his vision and has noticeably been sporting a shiner this week after jumping straight off a flight from Miami (acclimatisation be damned).
This will be the blueprint Mitchell will look to follow, especially now that he is under the tutelage of the canny Jimmy Tibbs, the man who masterminded Nigel Benn’s conversion from wreckless slugger into world class boxer-puncher.
On home turf, Mitchell must have a chance, however if he loses his cool and elects to brawl with Prescott, he may find himself significantly overpowered. It should be exciting.
Hills have Prescott a slight favourite at 4/5 with Mitchell 10/11.
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