By Dan Ambrose: WBA Super World light welterweight champion Amir Khan (25-1, 17 KO’s) sees his July 23rd unification fight against IBF light welterweight champion Zab Judah (41-6, 28 KO’s) as a stepping stone fight to get him a badly wanted dream fight against unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. next year. Khan thinks that he matches up well with Mayweather and thinks he’s good enough now to beat him.

A fight against Mayweather could possibly happen if Mayweather is looking for an easy fight before taking on Manny Pacquiao, but it’s doubtful. Mayweather is facing a southpaw now in WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz and the logical thing for Mayweather to do after that would be to face Pacquiao next, not Khan. That’s not to say that Khan won’t get a chance in late 2012 if Mayweather is interested in getting an easy win, but it’s highly doubtful given Mayweather’s history of disappearing for a year or more after getting a big payday.

Mayweather will get a huge payday against Pacquiao, and with the money he gets from that fight, we may not see Mayweather Jr. fight again for another two years. By then, Khan will likely have been beaten if he faces a quality fighter like Timothy Bradley or Ortiz. Khan does well against weak punchers like Paulie Malignaggi and Paul McCloskey, but flounders when put in with kinds with power like Breidis Prescott and Marcos Maidana. If Khan gets beaten by anyone he can forget about a fight against Mayweather.

Judah is getting up there in age at 33, and isn’t the same guy he used to be but he can still punch plenty hard. If Khan thinks this is going to be an easy fight he could be in a big shock once Judah connects with something big in this fight. I’m giving Judah a real chance to win if he can hang around long enough for Khan to tire out a little. It’s hard to knock Khan out early unless you go right at him the way that Prescott did. Judah doesn’t fight like that and will likely wait until Khan gets a little over-confident and leaves himself open for a big shot at some point in the fight. In that case, Khan better hope his chin is up to the task because Judah will hit him with a shot that will be every bit as powerful as the right hand that Maidana hurt him with last December.