Junior welterweight contender Victor Ortiz (28-2-1, 22 KOs), coming off a smashing third-round knockout of former titlist Vivian Harris on Sept. 18, is penciled in to open the Dec. 11 HBO card headlined by Amir Khan’s junior welterweight title defense against Marco Maidana. If a deal can be ironed out, Ortiz 
would face former titlist Andriy Kotelnik, Golden Boy’s Schaefer told ESPN.com.
Kotelnik (31-4-1, 13 KOs) is the only man to defeat Maidana, but he lost his title via a lopsided decision to Khan in 2009. Kotelnik returned in August and lost a close fight to titleholder Devon Alexander. Many thought Kotelnik won. “We’d love to make the fight, and I’ve been talking to [Kotelnik’s promoter] Don King,” Schaefer said. “Hopefully we can make it. I gave Don a final offer. There’s not another penny. So he’s got to talk to his fighter and see what they want to do, or HBO has to come up with more money. But hopefully we can make that fight. That would be a big statement for Victor to beat somebody like Kotelnik, especially if he could knock him out, which nobody has ever done.” Schaefer said there are two other possibilities: England’s John Murray and South Africa’s Kaiser Mabuza.
HBO has approved Mabuza, but his promoter has a date for Mabuza in January on a South African TV network, and the fighter might not be interested in coming to the United States. If Ortiz-Mabuza comes off, it would likely be for a belt that is about to be stripped from Alexander, who is close to taking a unification match against Timothy Bradley Jr. in January instead of fighting Mabuza in a mandatory defense for a fraction of the money.
Source ESPN
Victor Ortiz is a great fighter with skills. Although I think he is overrated to some extent. He needs to beat a top ten fighter now, not a ranked fighter from 5 years ago. Do that a couple of times and look good doing it. THEN challenge a ‘belt holder’. Good luck to Victor
As of right now, I’m going with Victor and will be willig to add BY KNOCKOUT!! And.. if he were facing Maidana in a rematch instead, I’d pick Victor to win also. I believe that Ortiz is a better fighter than what he’s been given credit due to that loss to Maidana. And I do believe that he’s anxious to avenge that defeat and WILL when a opportunity arises!!
As for the Kotelnik fight, this will be a great win and a BIG step foward for Ortiz due to the fact that Kotelnik gave Devon Alexander and team a scare, a BIG one.
Before I go.. I bet many of you MY BOXING FAN members are probably thinking that I sound like a Victor Ortiz fan, right?? Well, I just want to let you all know… THAT I AM!! Peace and God Bless!!
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