According to promoter Don King, HBO is brushing aside Andriy Kotelnik as a possible opponent for WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto, and instead pushing for either WBA interim 140-pound champion Marcos Maidana or unbeaten 147-pound contender Mike Jones to land the slot.
Berto was scheduled to return on October 2, but because HBO is against going head to head with the baseball playoffs, and Berto's opponent has yet to be finalized - the return will likely get pushed to a date in November.
"Kotelnik is ready to go with Berto, but I believe he got turned down by the matchmaking of HBO. I can't believe it. I really can't believe it. He just put on a tremendous performance in St. Louis. He's the man to go out there and beat Berto, and he'll beat Berto," King told BoxingScene.com.
"He will be full fledged welterweight by the time they fight. He's be stronger and because of their two styles of fighting, Kotelnik will beat Berto."
Based on Maidana's past history with HBO fights, King is very surprised with the network's enthusiasm to see him in a Berto fight. HBO's push is irrelevant because Maidana turned down the opportunity to fight Berto.
"Maidana already turned it down. Here is a guy who stood up Devon [Alexander] twice. He stood up Gary Shaw [for Tim Bradley] twice. This guy is a piece of work. He turned down four matches. Two with me and two with Shaw and [HBO] still keep trying to put him on," King said.
"Now you have a guy like Kotelnik who will fight Berto, and they question it and say they are looking for somebody else, like Mike Jones in Philadelphia. Mike Jones can't touch Kotelnik. What they are doing is like a dog with a bone. They are dangling the bone out there. They haven't completley said no, but they have because they are shuffling everywhere. In this boxing business, there ain't no secrets. No matter you do.....whatever is in the dark it's going to come to light. We know what's going on," King said.
BoxingScene spoke with a source in the Berto camp, who said the fight with Jones doesn't make any sense with the WBC ordering a mandatory defense against Selcuk Aydin. In other words, Berto's team view Jones as no bigger of a name than Aydin, and if those are the two final choices on the table, they would rather go with Aydin. But, HBO is not exactly keen on televising Berto vs. Aydin.
"Would you let your fighter get stripped for a fight with Mike Jones?," the source told BoxingScene.
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