Rees facing tough Kotelnik test Gavin Rees will make the first defence of his WBA light-welterweight title against Ukrainian Andreas Kotelnik. The bout will be held at the Cardiff International Arena on 22 March. "It took so long to win this title, I'm not giving it up first fight," said Newbridge's undefeated Rees, 27, who beat Souleymane M'Baye for the crown. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7230883.stm Anyone think Rees will win? I mean, Kotelink (A.K.A Witter's son) is pretty average, but Gavin Rees is unquestionably the weakest of Britain's current world champs. Even this might be a step to far for Gavin, IMO... :dunno:
It's arguable if Witter even beat Kotelnik, and now he's "his son"? Come on. Andres will have to have a horrible night at the office OR be the subject of traditional home-town cooking to lose this one. He's just better.
What pisses me off about that comment is that it suggests that guys like Rees really regarded themselves as being world class to begin with, that they always expected to fight a world champ at some stage. Kotelnik has already had 2 robberies against him. 3rd time lucky I feel.
Witter beat Andres when they fought IMO. Close, sure, but I had Witter winning. The reference was mainly for those here who have likely heard of neither Kotelnik or Rees... :: Anyway, I agree with you wholeheartedly on the likely outcome, which was why I was so surprised when I read this piece. I just can't envisage (try as I might) any way for Gavin to win this fight. It's almost as if Warren has just given up on him and tossed him to the wolves... :dunno:
The best part of the article is when Rees starts talking about how he's going to unify the division like his mate Calzaghe has at 168. :laughing: I know 140 is pretty bare right now, but it's arguable whether Rees is even one of the top ten guys in there, belt or no belt. Hatton and Witter would absolutely rape him for starters...
Is Kotelnik still with Universum? I thought Warren was hanging on to that belt for khan Rees is rubbish, kotelnik easily surely?
That's what I thought too. I mean, Rees has had it for almost a year now without actually defending it, so it seemed logical to presume that Khan was in line to 'inherit' it.
Conteh wasn't known to be fat either. In fact he was regarded as quite handsome. He looks a bit puffy now alright, but he must be pushing 60.
Poor Kotelnik. He has the perfect eastern european counterpunching style to win every fight at home and lose every fight away, and that basically to every fighter from Ricky Hatton to Junior Witter all the way down to Gavin Rees. Even when he adjusted his style a bit for the M´Baye fight and finished the fight strong they still f´ed him over on the cards. The problem with the style is, instead of running and counterpunching like a Floyd Mayweather, Kotelnik is blocking and counterpunching. But judges are more likely to recognize a missed punch than a blocked punch. So Rees will probably hammer away five punches to Kotelnik´s gloves, which the crowd will cheer, eat two clear counters and win the split decision.
I'd be staggered if, even in Wales, Rees somehow manages to win this fight, though a potential robbery of the sort you describe is almost certainly his best hope.
Did anyone catch the rees v watson fight last saturday? It was a great fight! Rees easily won the first 6 rounds, he was full of energy and landed consistently, but watson came back strong in the next few rounds. Rees found the extra bit of class in the end, but watson had him worried. Best british fight i've seen for a while.
