By Scott Gilfoid: Previously, World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik was considered by many to be the weakest of the light welterweight champions. Even Amir Khan said that he felt that Kotelnik was the weakest of the bunch, which is probably why Khan went after him in the first place rather than take on WBO champion Timothy Bradley or IBF title holder Juan Urango.

At the time that Khan fought Kotelnik, the WBC title was vacant. It’s not anymore, though, now that Junior Witter quit last Saturday night after the 8th round against Devon Alexander. However, now that the last title has been captured by Alexander, I have to say that I think Khan appears to be the weak link in the title holders and has not only captured Kotelnik’s title with Amir’s 12 round unanimous decision win over the Ukrainian on July 18th in Manchester, England.

Khan chose to fight Kotelnik rather than going after tougher opponents like Bradley and Urango. The weird thing about boxing is that talent doesn’t always transfer over to being the more popular fighter unfortunately. Khan, even though he’s probably not even close to being in the class of Bradley and Alexander, he’s clearly much more popular than those guys are right now.

It’s hard to say why because Khan hasn’t done much since turning pro four years ago. His competition has been limited with Breidis Prescott and Kotelnik being his best opponents of his career. Prescott destroyed Khan in a 1st round knockout last year in September.

So, effectively Khan has a 1-1 record. You can forget about all the fluff opponents that Khan has faced before that in building up his 21-1 record. Only two of the fighters are considered worthy, and one of them – Kotelnik – was considered to be a paper champion at the time that Khan fought him.

Let’s look at Khan’s fellow light welterweights and consider his ability versus there own:

Timothy Bradley – This is arguably the best light welterweight in the division. Bradley, 25, has proven his worth by defeating Junior Witter, Edner Cherry, Kendall Holt and Nate Campbell in his last four fights. The bout with Campbell ended in controversy last weekend due to what appeared to be a blown call on a cut that opened over the left eye of Campbell in the 3rd round. However, there’s not mistaking that Bradley was dominating Campbell at the time of the stoppage and would have likely continued with that domination in the following rounds.

Bradley would likely make easy work of a fight with Khan if they were to fight in a unification bout. I don’t imagine that Khan or his trainer Freddie Roach will make this fight happen, simply because Bradley appears to be fighting on another level above Khan in ability.

This has nothing to do with age, because I don’t care how old Khan is, he’d likely never be able to compete with a quality fighter like Bradley. I see Bradley stopping Khan within the 3rd round if and when they fight. Roach will probably have Khan running for his life in this one, but it won’t work. Bradley is too fast, and would cut off the ring on Khan and take him out.

Devon Alexander – Now the new WBC light welterweight champion, Alexander looked great in defeating Junior Witter last weekend in an 8th round stoppage. Alexander throws a lot of punches, and moves well. Khan wouldn’t be able to hold Alexander off for long and would find himself getting nailed with big left hands.

If Alexander rocks Khan like he did against Witter last weekend, I can’t see Khan recovering the way that Witter did. Alexander would likely finish him off quick. Alexander has a lot of technical ability and is well schooled. He doesn’t make mistakes and is great and putting pressure on his opponents.

Khan would be forced to clinch a great deal to keep Alexander from getting on the inside against him and landing body and head shots. Alexander hasn’t faced very stiff competition, but he proved against Witter that he’s the real deal and is fundamentally very sound. Khan would jab and move, but eventually Alexander would find him and dust him off.

Juan Urango – This would be Khan’s best opportunity for a victory. Urango isn’t that fast or technically skilled, and moves like a big tank around the ring. Khan in theory could circle Urango (21-2-1, 16 KO’s) indefinitely and jab him to pieces. That could work, but the problem is Urango would eventually catch up to Khan at some point in the fight and land a big shot to the head.

I don’t have much faith in Khan being able to take these big shots without crumbling. Urango hits much harder than Kotelnik, and there were some moments in the Kotelnik fight where I questioned whether Khan would be able to stay upright for long. With Urango, Khan would be getting hit much harder if not more often. I think it’s a winnable fight for Khan, but I still think his glass jaw would betray him and he’d lose by knockout.

There you have it. I see Khan as the weakest of the light welterweights and the new paper champion of the division. I think Khan is good for one victory over his number #1 contender Dimitry Salita, who I feel shouldn’t even be in the top tier, much less a number #1 fighter. Salita hasn’t faced any top tier competition that would make you believe that he should be a number #1 contender.

As such, Khan will probably beat him and then after that fight, Khan will likely try to steer around WBA interim champion Marcos Maidana so that Amir can continue looking for beatable opponents. Maidana would likely knock Khan out in one or two rounds because of his huge power.