By William Mackay: WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia is in the driver’s seat as the leading candidate for a fight against Amir Khan on July 7th in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is now saying that 35-year-old Erik Morales (52-8, 36 KO’s) is in the running to face Khan as well.

Schaefer said to RingTV “Garcia is one of the names that is being discussed for Amir Khan. But Erik Morales mentioned to us today that he would love to fight Amir Khan, so that’s another possibility.”

Do the math. Morales is the much bigger fight for Khan than taking on little known Garcia, who looked plainly awful in beating an out of shape Morales last March. I don’t think the casual boxing fans care one bit whether Morales lost that fight. He’s still the much better option for Khan and Golden Boy if they can make that fight. However, there’s a lot of competition for Morales, as Top Rank is looking to match WBO light welterweight interim champion Juan Manuel Marquez against Morales on July 14th at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

I’m sorry, Khan, but the Morales-Marquez fight is a much bigger fight than Morales-Khan, and one that no doubt Morales will jump at if he can get it. Morales would take a fight against Marquez any day of the week than facing Khan. It’s the better fight, and likely the much bigger payday because of the huge gate that the fight would attract in Texas. It would likely be a pay per view bout as well, and that would help make Morales’ decision to take the fight much easier for him because he’ll get a good payday.

An in shape Morales would give Khan a lot of trouble if the referee is keeping Khan from fouling. If Khan can shove, pull down on Morales’ head and put him in headlocks like Khan did with Lamont Peterson last December, then I would favor Khan. But if Khan is penalized each time he fouls, I see Morales pulling off an upset.