By Allen Fox: 24-year-old Amir Khan may be about the only exciting fighter that’s left in boxing in four years from now when Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will have either retired or deteriorated enough to the point where they’re no longer relevant.

Khan will be 28 by then and barring any further misfortunes in the ring like his 1st round knockout loss to Breidis Prescott and his recent 12 round split decision loss to Lamont Peterson, Khan could be the biggest name in the sport.

It’s hard to imagine Khan being the top guy in four years given how bad he looked in his recent fight with Peterson, but it’s definitely possible. If Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach can somehow iron out Khan’s problems dealing with inside pressure from opponents and teach him a little bit of defense for a change, Khan might be the one calling all the shots in three to four years.

It might be bit much for Khan’s head, as I can see him becoming a little overconfident with the power he might have by then. We’re already seeing the power Khan has now with his ability to foul and get away with it, as well working to have his Peterson defeat overturned. If Khan can get away with the types of fouls he likes to habitually commit – pushing off and pulling down on his opponent’s heads – he will be very hard to beat for the next four years.

I don’t see Peterson beating Khan with the right referee working to ignore Khan’s pushing and pulling. And there is really is no one else t light welterweight for him to fight. Timothy Bradley doesn’t want to fight him and the other fighters aren’t popular enough for Khan to waste time fighting. The only fighter I can see beating Khan when he moves up in weight is Floyd Mayweather Jr, and Khan will have a better than average chance of winning that fight if it takes place in 2013 rather than next year.

I doubt Mayweather will want to fight Khan in 2012 anyway, so it shouldn’t be a problem for Khan to get Mayweather the year after when he’s older. Khan has said in the past that it’s about getting the top guys when they’re not necessarily at the peak of their games in order to beat them. I think Khan is right. If he gets Mayweather in2013, he probably beats him because Mayweather already looks to be slowing down.