By William Mackay: It appears Amir Khan isn’t all that interested in fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. after all. Khan reportedly has rejected the idea of him fighting little known light welterweight contender Jessie Vargas (16-0, 9 KO’s) in order to get a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Khan is now saying he’ll fight the 22-year-old Vargas, but only if he can beat Marcos Maidana, a fighter that Khan struggled to beat last year in December. Mayweather Jr. told the media recently that if Khan wants a fight with him, he’ll have to fight his fighter Jessie Vargas first and then he would fight him.

Mayweather promotes Vargas, and wants to get him some badly needed attention. Vargas will be fighting on the undercard of Mayweather’s fight against WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz next Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Vargas faces light welterweight contender Josesito Lopez. Depending on how well Vargas does, Khan may be off the hook for a fight against Vargas, not that he’ll ever fight him.

Vargas could lose this fight, as Lopez is good fighter with excellent boxing skills and good power. Vargas is similar to Maidana in power, but isn’t a particularly busy fighter. He’s got a huge left hook that he stuns most of his opponents with and a sneaky right hand. Vargas would be a very dangerous opponent for someone like Khan with his weak chin.

If Vargas landed any of his big shots against Khan, he could beat him. Obviously, Khan’s promoters at Golden Boy are also aware of the potential for bad things to happen by putting Khan in with Vargas, and that’s why they likely never will. If this was Paulie Malignaggi or Paul McCloskey, two weak punchers, that Mayweather was asking Khan to fight, I think he would take the fight in a second to get the Mayweather fight.

But with Vargas, Khan is basically calling Mayweather’s bluff, hoping he won’t stick to his guns about him having to fight that guy first. It’s hard to say whether Mayweather is serious or not. He might eventually fight Khan because of the big money he can get for the fight. It’s an easier fight than his upcoming one next week against Ortiz, because Khan doesn’t have a lot of power like Ortiz. Only thing that Mayweather has to worry about with Khan is to keep from being held and pulled down behind his head and to guard against low blows. Other than that, it’s an easy fight for Mayweather to win.