Andreas Kotelnik - doing it the hard way.

SeelowHeights · Joined: 20 Nov 2005 Posts: 12507 Location: Bolton, England

Andreas Kotelnik – doing it the hard way

By Steve Thomasson – a.k.a. SeelowHeights

Many boxers are fortunate enough to get all the support they apparently need, and then a little more besides, when climbing the rankings, or indeed fighting for a “world title”. Many get home advantage, a bit more preparation time than their rival – where would Frank Warren be without TBA? And, if everything else fails, decisions in their favour that can be politely described as questionable, whether a mistaken low blow call here, point deduction from the opponent there, or a kind valuation on the scorecards can all ease a home-town fighter into an exalted position that may, or may not be fully deserved.

Some boxers however, may well, for various reasons – whether a lack of marketability, an inability to play the media game, or an awkward style of fighting which can make for unappealing fights and frustrated fans – not get the same levels of support that their ability would superficially merit.

This piece is about, at least in my opinion, one such fighter who just cannot seem to get the breaks.

Andreas Kotelnik, a Ukrainian light-welterweight fighting out of the Universum stable in Germany, was a very highly regarded amateur. He won 135 of 150 amateur fights; three of his fifteen defeats came against the legendary Cuban, Mario Kindelan. Nevertheless, Kotelnik did once beat Kindelan, during an amateur tournament in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 1999. In an amateur career where he was junior amateur champion in 1995, European amateur champion in 1999 and lost to his nemesis Kindelan 14-4 in the final of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, his skill and talent was long apparent. So, in November 2000, at the age of 22 he made the leap into the professional ranks, signing for Universum, after consultation with the Klitschko brothers and believing that everything was ready. Kotelnik had said he did have several offers from various promotional outfits but felt that the environment at the world-renowned Hamburg stable was most likely to help him fulfil his potential.

Kotelnik faced the usual suspects, getting eight fights in from December 2000 to the end of 2001, winning all eight (3KOs). Against fairly weak opposition he then knocked out his next five, and then was pitted against the passable Matthews Zulu on a solid card in Cottbus, December 2002, in a card at a town where professional boxing had not been seen in over ten years. Zulu had pushed Oktay Urkal the distance nine months previously and indeed made the technically talented German-Turk look so bad he got booed out of the arena. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian got a comfortable unanimous decision.

Fights in Venezuela, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine and Germany followed, and by mid-2004 Kotelnik was 23-0-0 (11KOs). During that time he had won the WBA intercontinental belt and defeated the reasonable Fabrice Columbel and Gabriel Mapouka on the way. Whilst neither of those guys were ever likely to be described as world-beaters, both were very competent and passable European-level fighters, especially Mapouka, who before the defeat to the Ukrainian, had taken Giuseppe Branco to a majority decision and was outpointed by Oktay Urkal. All seemed well in the world. Kotelnik, whilst never the hardest of hitters, showed the kind of fight he has made his name for, going forward, and countering from behind an effective defence. Mapouka tried swarming and forcing the fight, but by all accounts the former amateur star always had an extra trick up his sleeve and unanimously won what had been regarded as an entertaining match.

Then, the next opponent was the slick and talented Souleymane M’baye, whose promoters had won the bid. This fight took place in M’Baye’s hometown, Levallois-Perret, Paris at the Palais de Sports. M’Baye was looking to rebound after getting floored and outpointed by Vivian Harris, Kotelnik was looking to fight for a world title. This fight was a WBA eliminator.

In a close fight between two fighters who are essentially counterpunchers the scoring was often characterised by “what you look for” in a fighter. M’Baye won a close split decision as the scorecards read 117-111, 115-113 and 114-115. Both fighters put on a fight that was passably entertaining, but lacked those “highlights” that really make people sit up and watch. Kotelnik’s unbeaten record had gone, although he had taken the home fighter to a split, and a good few observers thought he had done enough in a decision that could have gone either way.

Two fights later Junior Witter had to face the Ukrainian who was at this time mandatory for his European crown. Witter had invited considerable scorn by saying “I’d have KO’ed Tszyu in five” in a now all too familiar critique of British rival Ricky Hatton. Nevertheless he expected “a long night” but promised his own brand of fireworks, as expected from a man who had gone on 15 KO wins in his previous 16, and in the other fight had floored Lovemore N’Dou twice.

Again, this was a fight between two counterpunchers. Sometimes these fights can be very interesting, sometimes, they can be very dull. And for the first five rounds it didn’t look too difficult for Witter as he was the only one committing to his shots. The Ukrainian proved very difficult to hit clean but was only really offering a crab-like defence and the odd jab. By the fifth it was clear that the Ukrainian was progressively coming into the fight, but Witter still seemed that bit too fast and elusive. However, it suddenly became clear why Kotelnik had followed his defensive tactics early on…and as the Hitter faded down the stretch, Kotelnik started landing tidy overhand rights, jabs and left hooks. Normally, Witter fights with his hands down in that quintessential Ingle-trained style as patented by Naseem Hamed, but it was very difficult to avoid noticing that by the later rounds his gloves were up in an orthodox defensive manner as his challenger began to turn the tide and claw back the deficit.

By the end of round eleven it appeared that Witter had thrown away a very good lead and both men came out thinking that the last round could be vital. It was close, and the audience booed Witter at the end of the fight quite loudly. Two judges had Witter winning by 115-114, but the third judge who scored it 117-111 to Witter was way off, indeed even ITV commentator Duke McKenzie was quoted as saying “I think that judge needs my glasses!”

There were cries of robbery and Universum considered putting in a protest which came to nothing.

In fairness, whilst this writer had Kotelnik winning by a single point with a score of 115-114 there’s no strong disagreement with the two judges who had Witter ahead by the same scoreline. Witter certainly won rounds 2-5, the sixth was a swing round depending on what a judge would fancy, Kotelnik took 7-11 by less clear margins than Witter took 2-5 in this writer’s opinion, and the first and last rounds were close. Nevertheless, Witter’s win could at best be described as a Pyrrhic victory that night, and the Yorkshireman even said after the bout that the Ukrainian “was a world-title class opponent”. Granted, it was very scant consolation, but it was at least some respect from his peers.

After two close defeats, it was do-or-die for a talent considered to potentially not quite have what it took at the highest levels of professional boxing. Universum had two former Olympic standouts at light-welterweight, and both had fallen short in their biggest fights. The Uzbek Mohammad Abdulaev had won gold at the Sydney Olympics in the welterweight category, but had lost on a ninth-round TKO to Miguel Angel Cotto in a world-title fight due to eye swelling. Both were paired off against each other, in doing so Universum wanted to find out which of the two nearly men was the more promising. This was on the undercard of the Felix Sturm / Maselino Masoe fight in Leverkusen, but then Felix Sturm pulled out with an elbow injury. Still, Jürgen Brähmer was made the headline fighter for the first time, albeit against the somewhat overmatched Henry Porras.

In a fight for the WBA and WBO intercontinental belts, it was all or nothing. The chance to get into position for future world title shots, and the victory was the most important thing. Abdulaev was the stronger puncher and the naturally bigger man, having started at welter, Kotelnik was seen as the slightly better technician. By all accounts, the fight ebbed and flowed, with both fighters often standing toe-to-toe, Abdulaev trying to land his powerful hooks and Kotelnik countering with quick, precise punches straight down the middle. Both fighters showed the heart, skill, toughness and composure under pressure usually associated with amateur standouts and former Olympic medallists, but at the end of the fight it was the Uzbek who went back dejectedly to his corner, Kotelnik, in elation, celebrated his victory in the middle of the ring.

Even more surprising, this fight got little exposure on German TV. Whilst it is perfectly understandable that Brähmer got the nod as the headline fighter, as he was still considered a highly-promising talent and was German to boot, this fight got a two-minute summary on the German terrestrial channel ZDF. Klaus-Peter Kohl and former matchmaker Jean-Marcel Nartz both maintained this was a candidate for national fight of the year. The commentary even said that this was “an excellent fight, one for boxing fans”, referring to “two world-class fighters, but Kotelnik was the better one this time” and even referred to how important the fight was, saying “it was do-or-die, whoever lost had little chance of re-establishing themselves on the world stage”…

To make matters even sadder, even after such a fight, the fans had to be told to applaud the pair of them. In a fight that was rated one of the national fights of the year. Klaus-Peter Kohl admitted that maybe that fight had deserved greater exposure than it actually got, with only 2000 fans in the Wilhelm-Dopatka-Halle in Leverkusen.

Abdulaev retired after that fight.

After a couple of clear victories, including a knockout in his eliminator against a rather overmatched William Gonzalez, Kotelnik finally got his chance of a world title, and a chance for revenge, as he was due to face the now defending champion Souleymane M’Baye, who had picked up the WBA title Ricky Hatton vacated with a resounding fourth-round KO win over Raul Balbi in Bolton. For some inexplicable reason, Universum were never really at the races when the bids were put to the WBA. M’Baye’s new promoter, Frank Warren’s Sports Network, bid almost twice as much as Universum were willing to pay.

So, for the biggest fight in his career so far, the Ukrainian had to fight away from home again, this time in Liverpool. The fight was one of the more controversial judging decisions of 2007, albeit somewhat overshadowed by the foul play and extremely irregular scoring of the Derry Matthews / John Simpson fight where Matthews, despite getting knocked down and having two points deducted, still somehow contrived to get 118 and 117 points on two of the scorecards. However, another little matter had proven itself a cause for concern for the Ukrainian, the referee for this world title fight was British, as well as all three ring judges. A protest was registered, but to no effect.

As in their first fight, it was, to some extent a case of what you fancy. Kotelnik, however, didn’t start as slowly as he did against Witter and steadily forced the pace from behind his guard. M’Baye spent plenty of time punching the guard or backing away. Neither really rattled the other, and neither boxer was in danger of going down. Some of the rounds were very close to score, indeed this writer ended up giving two as drawn and almost had two more going the same way. The difficulty in scoring was reflected in the scores as M’Baye kept his belt thanks to a very controversial draw (112-117, 114-114, 114-113) which was met with boos from the crowd. I had it 116-114 to Kotelnik with the comment that he could have won by four points at the very most, or drawn it at the very worst. Whereas in his fight against Witter Kotelnik arguably let the last round slip away, this time around there was no doubt whatsoever. Again, Universum’s protests regarding the score and the nationality of the judges came to nothing.

Nevertheless, and one small consolation, Andreas still remained the mandatory contender after M’baye’s defence, which he lost to Gavin Rees in one of the biggest surprises of 2007. Despite giving away six inches in height and being a career lightweight, Rees quickly darted in and out, landing scoring shots whilst the Frenchman seemed unusually passive.

At the time of writing this piece the WBA have requested purse bids for the fight between Gavin Rees and Kotelnik. Rumours that Kotelnik (along with his Ukrainian stablemates Wladimir Sidorenko and Sergei Dzinziruk) may leave Universum if they cannot get the fight on home ground were quashed, but it did indicate a growing dissatisfaction about his career so far and what was seen as a lack of support.

With Kotelnik it could be argued that he is a foreign fighter who doesn’t have a primeval style of fighting that instantly grabs the attention of the casual fan. He doesn’t rank as especially media friendly – indeed his website only came into being in the middle of 2007, and is currently being translated into English (badly). Indeed, in the opinion of this writer, Kotelnik is almost better known amongst British fight fans for giving two current world champions all they could handle on British soil than he is in the country where he’s fought most of his professional fights. Consider, in contrast, Amir Khan, whose path into British public consciousness and the minds of boxing fans the world over has been on a level rarely seen even with former Olympic silver medallists.

But for the now 29 year old nearly man Kotelnik, only time will tell if he can get to the ball before the career clock strikes midnight.

Sources:

http://www.boxing.de/boxer/boxer/boxer-details/boxer/44/universum/boxer.html (in German)
http://www.geocities.com/pedrinet/kindelan.html (in Spanish, Kindelan’s amateur record)
http://www.box-web.de/events/021221-cot/index.php (in German, card with Kotelnik / Zulu)
http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=15225&cat=boxer (Gabriel Mapouka’s record)
http://www.boxingtimes.com/analyses/2005/050611cotto_abdulaev.html (Cotto / Abdulaev fight)
http://www.boxingpress.de/braehmer-porras-review.htm (Review from the German-language version of SecondsOut.com of the Brähmer / Porras card, including Kotelnik - Abdulaev)
http://www.boxingpress.de/bp-kommentar-boxen_im%20_zweiten%20.html (Comments from Kohl and Nartz re. Abdulaev / Kotelnik fight)
http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2005/11/28/507722.html (Comment on Abdulaev / Kotelnik fight / audience response)
http://www.boxingpress.de/umfrageresults2005-fights.htm#national (National fight of the year in Germany, 2005, again from the German version of SecondsOut.com)
http://www.boxingbanter.com/viewnews.php?t=11847 (Purse bids of Kotelnik / M’baye II)
http://www.wbaonline.com/resolutions/MandatoryReminderRees-Kotelnick.pdf (Purse bids requested for Rees / Kotelnik)
http://gazeta.lviv.ua/articles/2007/03/27/22547/ (Article from the newspaper in Kotelnik’s home town, Lviv, in Ukrainian, detailing the rumours that Kotelnik and fellow Ukrainians might leave Universum, I had to use the following Ukrainian online dictionary… http://pereklad.online.ua/ )

For other information the site www.kotelnyk.org was used.

counterpuncher · Joined: 29 Dec 2005 Posts: 8988 Location: Birmingham

Great stuff stevie. it was only a matter of time before we got a piece from you on Kotelnik, after all, a good read mate 8)

begs the question- why has he had it so hard?

other than the lack of crowdpleasing style, and the lack of a big home base to work with fan-wise... is ther any other reason you can think of?

Martin · Posted: November 21 2007, 12:25 PM Post subject:

Article is excellent.

It's extremely well written and it holds your attention from start to finish. Kotelnik is the kind of fighter that when his name is mentioned, people tend to switch off. Your article creates empathy for his cause and actually makes you want to watch another of his fights, now.

Great piece mate.

Martin.

SeelowHeights · Joined: 20 Nov 2005 Posts: 12507 Location: Bolton, England

counterpuncher wrote: Great stuff stevie. it was only a matter of time before we got a piece from you on Kotelnik, after all, a good read mate 8)

begs the question- why has he had it so hard?

other than the lack of crowdpleasing style, and the lack of a big home base to work with fan-wise... is ther any other reason you can think of?

Glad you liked it CP, there's a couple of other reasons as well in my book.

1. I may be wrong here, but I don't think Kotelnik speaks German all that well. Klaus-Peter Kohl (actually, this is mentioned in one of the sources, the abendblatt one) tried stopping his Eastern European fighters from speaking in their native languages amongst themselves and indeed Sidorenko and Kotelnik tried giving statements in German afterwards. However I've looked through sites and cannot find a single interview from Kotelnik in German, they're all on his webpage in Ukrainian. So, this could be a slight problem on his part.

2. Based on hearsay, so I wouldn't attach too much to it, but to say Kotelnik doesn't really go for charisma is probably right. He's one of those that just turns up in good condition and wants to let his fists talk in the ring.

3. Linked to some extent with 1 & 2, I do feel he's been badly marketed. On a German forum I frequent the more hardcore fans seem to respect his technical ability a lot, but more casual ones just think he's boring as hell. Factor in 1 & 2 and you've got a fighter that cannot build a fan base, especially when he's a foreign fighter. Even when comparing to Junior Witter, his appeal is that he's a bit "anti-establishment" as in against Frank Warren, but Kotelnik is just a classic "who needs him?" fighter for opponents, promoters and fans alike.

4. His ability. He is a very good fighter. He can make almost anyone look amateurish at times, but has very little fan base of his own so invariably has to travel to bigger matches, which - as much as we don't want it to be the case - leaves him more exposed to the whims of local officiating.

I do think the linguistic matter is a major one though, as Artur Grigorian did well and was popular in Germany, at lightweight too, although his style was a bit more all-out attack-minded.

I guess the thing I find most annoying is that here is a fighter that genuinely turns up to fight and has little time for the media charades that many play (even though Hatton comes over as an likeable bloke, he does have a way with the media...add Kessler too), and he's completely ignored for it. It's almost as if the media presence takes precident over ability, if you get my drift.

counterpuncher · Joined: 29 Dec 2005 Posts: 8988 Location: Birmingham

yeah good points, true to say that Kessler has a k.o punch which helps init?

SeelowHeights · Joined: 20 Nov 2005 Posts: 12507 Location: Bolton, England

counterpuncher wrote: yeah good points, true to say that Kessler has a k.o punch which helps init?

True, but I wouldn't say Hatton is a knockout puncher in the purest sense of the word. Ottke was pretty popular in Germany and he certainly wasn't a lights-out puncher.

Michalczewski didn't speak brilliant German by any stretch (there's better, there's worse - but a German audience will certainly be critical at times of a boxer fighting over there in one of their stables that doesn't speak the language) but he certainly provided a fair bit of entertainment in his fights - I can never get the fight with Richard Hall out of my mind there...Hall had Michalczewski on the brink of a TKO with eye damage, Dariusz told his trainer Fritz Sdunek that he couldn't see, to which Sdunek just said "well, KO him then..." Sure enough, Dariusz flattened the Jamaican and finished him off. Punching the snot out of someone can be understood in any language. :D

Poor old Kotelnik really seems to have nothing in his favour at all.