Kotai Conceeds Weight To Fight Rhodes
02.04 - Mihaly Kotai, the highly ranked Hungarian, who holds the EBU #3 and WBC # 9 spot, will step up in weight on April 12 in London when he accommodates Leeds middleweight Darren Rhodes in a fight scheduled for 10 rounds and televised live back to Hungary on RTL Klub.
It is the unbeaten Kotai’s first outing since veteran German Theo Kerekesch took over the training regime earlier this year and the pair have set camp in the Polish capital of Warsaw. Both seem happy with the new arrangement and are burning to pack their bags for London. “I have really learned boxing in the weeks with Theo, it’s amazing,” the 26-year-old from Budapest reports from camp earlier today, “I just hope I can show that in the ring with Rhodes.”
One year older and a bit taller, the Leeds man indeed has a solid enough reputation, having won 13 fights (five early victories) from 20 outings with two draws. Darren turned professional in 1998 and is managed and trained by Michael Marsden. One of his wins was against former British title challenger Paul Wesley and although he was stopped in six rounds by Andrew Facey in his only title try (for the British Central Aera middleweight crown), Rhodes went the full 10-round distance with rough and tough Hussain Osman.
He will probably need this kind of durability, because Kotai, still unbeaten in 21 paid starts and a former WBC International champion (winning this title last year with an impressive display over 12 hard-fought rounds against South African champion William Gare before relinquishing it last month), can seriously hurt an opponent when connecting cleanly. It is one of Kerekesch’ tasks to improve the boxer behind the puncher to give the puncher even more effectiveness, because Kotai’s KO ratio has slipped during the last few fights. He last boxed in February in Las Vegas, winning on points over eight rounds against Brad Jensen.
Surely, Mihaly looks the favourite on paper, despite giving away natural weight. But he could be sloppy and right-hand happy in less impressive performances. Rhodes will also hope that not all will go well at the initial outing of the new Kotai/Kerekesch setup, because despite the positive mood, only in a real fight we will see whether Kerekesch (66) can indeed improve Kotai.
