By William Mackay: WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (27-0, 11 KO’s) had some reassuring words for WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (25-1, 17 KO’s) in a recent interview telling him that they will be fighting in the future but just not now.

When they do fight, Bradley says they will be the terms that he dictates. In other words, Khan, if he wants to fight Bradley, will have to be willing to agree to the conditions that Bradley lays out for him in order to get the fight. Since that’s the only way to get the fight, Khan pretty has no other choice but to agree to what Bradley wants. It comes down to this: Khan feels that he needs the Bradley fight to get validated somehow with boxing fans and seen as the best fighter in the light welterweight division.

But the thing is, there are a lot of other guys out there that Khan will still need to fight even if he does somehow beat Bradley. If Khan beats Bradley, which I don’t think he can, it won’t mean a lot because Bradley is already been exposed as a small fighter with little power. The fighters that Khan would still need to fight and beat if he wanted to be considered the best in the division would be as follows: Zab Judah, Mike Alvarado, Breidis Prescott, the winner of Devon Alexander vs. Lucas Matthysse, Lamont Peterson and possibly Roberto Guerrero if he moves up in weight. Just beating Bradley, who isn’t a popular fighter, won’t do the trick.

If Khan beats Bradley by running around the ring all night long and then immediately claims he’s the best fighter in the division before moving up to welterweight, it’s going to be seen as a bit of a joke because there’s too many quality guys out there that we don’t know that Khan can beat. We already know that Khan couldn’t beat Prescott. Khan was knocked out by him and isn’t in any kind of hurry to try and avenge that loss even after three years.

Khan beat Marcos Maidana but had the benefit of a referee that seemed to keep Maidana from fighting on the inside for much of the bout, in particular when it was down to the last three rounds when Khan was basically holding on for dear life and getting pummeled. For Khan to really make a claim he’s the best in the division, he needs to beat Bradley, Prescott, Matthysse, Peterson, Judah, Maidana [with a different referee] and Guerrero.

If Khan can win all those fights then I think it’s time for him to move up in weight to the welterweight division. But if he doesn’t face those guys and makes a claim he’s the best because of a win over the light hitting Bradley, then Khan is kidding himself. He won’t be the best; He’ll just be some guy that beat Paul McCloskey, Bradley, Paulie Malignaggi, Maidana [by holding on in the last three rounds] and a bunch of B and C level guys.