Was Marco Antonio Barrera Used As a "Fall Guy" for Amir Khan?

(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Tooth infections, cracked rib cartilage, and bad back problems; no, I'm not discussing the patients at a local emergency ward; it's simply the list of reasons—given lately—for main event boxing matches becoming postponed or cancelled.

June has been the month of cancellations in the world of boxing. So far, David Haye and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are two fighters who have had their events cancelled or postponed, and now another one can be added to the list.

British boxing sensation Amir Khan, who was scheduled to face Ukrainian Andreas Kotelnik for one of those worthless alphabet titles on June 27, had his first world title fight postponed last Monday after defending champion Andreas Kotelnik developed a tooth infection.

The bout that was originally scheduled to take place at the O2 Arena in London will now take place at the Manchester Evening News Arena on July 18.

"I'm delighted that my world title fight against Kotelnik is still on and when July 18 comes. I will never be more ready for him, although the postponement of the fight is a pain,” Khan said in a statement released by his promoter Frank Warren.

"In boxing, these things happen, so I have to be professional and stay focused. However, when I'm the victor and I am finally crowned world champion, it will make up for it."

The 22-year-old Khan is moving up a level to fight the Germany-based Kotelnik, having beaten Marco Antonio Barrera in a lightweight bout in Manchester in March. Khan looked great during an episode of HBO's Pacquiao/Hatton 24/7, where he was shown holding his own during sparring sessions with top pound-for-pound world champion Manny Pacquiao.

And, unlike many other sportswriters who voiced criticism over his performance against Barrera, I felt the fight was an excellent showing by young Khan, who—in my opinion—seemed to demonstrate amazing hand speed and true finesse.

I also feel that regardless of the cut, caused by a clash of heads, Barrera was outboxed and outclassed against Khan, who somewhat resembled a British version of Oscar De La Hoya.

Some critics who have followed Khan's career closely claim that he is merely a product of careful management mixed with an overabundance of promotional hype.

They contend that Khan has had problems, in some way or another, with every fighter he has fought thus far.

The critism goes like this, " Willie Limond nearly stopped him, Gairy St. Clair was hitting him for fun, Michael Gomez had him in real trouble, and Breidis Prescott destroyed him."

So was the great but faded Barrera merely a boxing patsy for Khan, or if you will pardon the pun, a "fall guy?"

To be quite honest, I  have only witnessed two fights from Khan, one with Prescott where he got knocked out, and his performance against Barrera, a good win over a past prime boxing legend.

So if the scouting reports on Khan coming out of the UK are valid, then I will be quite surprised if he gets past Koletnik easily, if at all.

Kotelnik, who is 31-2-1 with 13 KO's, is a good fighter and is a 2000 Olympic Silver Medal winner in the lightweight division.

He has also successfully defended his lightweight title twice after winning the crown with an impressive 12th-round stoppage over Gavin Rees in March 2008.

Many conclude that Khan's next fight is simply another example of activity that British promoter Warren has been accused of doing in the past, which is carefully spoon-feeding opponents to his fighters.

Ricky Hatton and many others, including the great Joe Calzaghe, were said to have had their records built from Warren's dealings with sub-par British opposition.

In the case of Hatton, it certainly came back to haunt him later on in his career when facing elite fighters such as Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.

If this is all true, then Khan’s career may, in the end, exist of an alphabet title from someone, somewhere, followed by 25 meaningless defenses.

"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."

  --  Abraham Lincoln 

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