By Scott Gilfoid: With the potential fight against Ricky Hatton off the table after Ricky quashed those rumors by saying he wasn’t interested, WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (21-1, 15 KO’s) has to find someone for his next opponent. Freddie Roach, Khan’s trainer, mentioned Erik Morales as a potential opponent a couple of weeks ago. Morales, 33, hasn’t fought in two years and has ballooned up in weight since that time. However, he reportedly is interested in making a comeback, so a fight with Khan might be an option.
Aside from the fact that Morales has been largely inactive for ages, he also fought at a smaller weight class for most of his career and only in his last fight, a 12 round decision loss to David Diaz in August 2007, did Morales move up to lightweight. it’s doubtful that the boxing public would be able to stomach a fight against Morales, who has lost five out of his last six fights since 2004.
Of course, Morales’ name still remains popular among boxing fans, but it wouldn’t exactly be the best fight that Khan could dig up for his next opponent. I’m not one to question Roach’s decision making, because he is after all considered to be a mini genius for the success that Pacquiao has made in the few years with wins over De La Hoya, Hatton and Morales.
However, Khan has taken heat for fighting what many people consider to be hand picked opponents since his 1st round wipeout loss to Breidis Prescott last year. Khan rebounded from the loss with a 5th round technical decision over the smallish 35-year-old Marco Antonio Barrera, then Amir selected WBA light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik to fight next, a fighter that many boxing experts feel was the weakest of the light welterweight champions.
If Khan follows that fight with a bout against Morales, it might not give a favorable impression to his fans. I doubt that Khan will want to be labeled as a cherry picker, but that might end up being the case if he fights Morales and then follows that with a mandatory defense against his number #1 challenger in the WBA, little known Dimitry Salita.
At that point, Khan could then find another optional defense and who knows what Khan and Roach would pick next at that point. I know that it probably won’t be a big slugger like Marcos Maidana. With an optional defense, it could be another Morales-type opponent for Khan.
Heck, Khan might end up being the Felix Sturm of the light welterweight division. Sure, Khan would make a lot of money, no doubt, but turn away potential boxing fans while doing so. Initially, I thought Khan and Roach were being brave by looking for a fight against Ricky Hatton. However, with the bad knockout loss that Hatton suffered against Manny Pacquiao in his last fight, I don’t think it would take too much bravery to fight him at this point.
As for Morales, there is little doubt that Khan would easily beat the former champion. I doubt that Khan would knock him out, because Khan would likely be trying to protect his weak chin too much and would be taking few risks against the rusty fighter. In the end, Khan would get the win, but probably turn off fans by another weak choice of an opponent.
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