Khan V Salita Prediction and Preview

Highlighting the Sports Network card in Newcastle on December 5^th is the first WBA Light Welterweight title defence of Amir Khan against unbeaten Ukrainian Dmitriy Salita. After beating another Ukrainian, in the form of the technically skilful Andriy Kotelnik for the title back in July of this year. Kotelnik was like Khan in the fact that both were Olympic silver medal winners and both were beaten by talented Mario Kindelán in the final. Salita however wasn't an Olympic medallist though he was another great amateur fighter racking up a solid record of 59-5 with a bronze in the junior Olympics.

Salita turned professional aged 19 in 2001 scoring a 1^st round stoppage victory before racking up a record of 30-0-1 and scoring 16 KO's. The most well known "name" on Salita's record is "Verdell Smith", a fighter also known as Tim Brookes and Tommy Bowles, he was infamous for being part of the Knucklehead Boxing Club, a group of 2 fighters and their manager that were implicated in fight fixing (all found not guilty). Salita's draw coming against Ramon Montano who was 10-3-1 and had scored just a single KO, Montano twice put Salita down during their 2006 fight which could be of some concern if it's a fair reflection of Salita.

Khan also turned professional aged 19 but 4 years after Salita, in 2005 and has a 21-1 record with 15KO's. The most well known name on his record is a shop worn Marco Antonio Barrera at a weight he didn't seem to well conditioned for, other than that the stand out win would be Kotelnik in a fight that saw Khan boxing off the back foot and avoiding the Ukrainian with speed and foot work. Khan was however stopped, violently and swiftly by Breidis Prescott in the opening minute of their fight in 2008. Khan who is swift with hands and feet has been dropped by light punching fighters as well including Willie Limond which will always be on the mind of those watching. Though he was fighting as a lightweight for most of his career the title victory over Kotelnik saw him establish himself as a Light Welterweight at the top level.

So how do I see the fight going?

Well from what I have seen of Salita he looks big at the weight but very slow and clumsy, his record may look nice on paper but it's as heavily padded as a record can be. Quite what he's done to deserve a title fight is beyond me, other than the fact he is a fairly large draw from his Jewish following. Khan may not be to everyone's cup of tea due to his rather un-restrained mouth, but under Freddie Roach it's hard not to see him improving both his boxing talent and his out of the ring attitude. Salita's slow clumsy attack will be picked off by Khan who, when he fights at range and uses his reach can be devastatingly effective. Salita won't punch hard enough to keep Khan away not is he skilled enough to keep Khan at bay with short counters, the reach and speed will be the keys to the fight.

Whether Khan just looks to take a wide points decision or whether he tries to finish off Salita late on is debatable but other than a lucky punch I find it impossible for Salita to win. The fights winner will have to face Marcos Rene Maidana with in 90 days of the fight regardless who wins (or be stripped of the WBA title), in what should be an exciting contest as the hard hitting Maidana seems to destroy what he hits.

The main interest from the media comes from the fact that the religious aspect of the fight will be a major role, though that's got nothing to do with what will happen in the ring which is why it was pretty avoided in this piece.