By Sean McDaniel: World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Amir Khan will be facing his obligatory title defense on December 5th against challenger Dmitry Salita. As of now, most boxing experts are predicting that the talented Khan will get by Salita without too many problems as long as Salita doesn’t get lucky and clip Khan with a big shot like Breidis Prescott did last year in the 1st round. Khan says he’s not going to take the easy route and will be seeking out top fighters in boxing.

It will be interesting to see who Khan goes after next. It’s not a good thing to dismiss an unbeaten fighter like Salita altogether but you can’t help wonder who Khan will be facing down the road if he’s truly serious about wanting to face the best fighters. Khan probably needs two or three high visible fights against quality fighters like Marcos Maidana, Victor Ortiz and Michael Katsidis before Khan is in the class to get fights against Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley or Ricky Hatton.

Those are the fights that will make Khan a huge star and make a lot of money for him. But Khan needs to make sure that he’s not taking the easy route by facing soft opponents like the ones that he’s mostly fought in the past. He’s 22 now, already been in with quality fighters like Andriy Kotelnik and Prescott, and is ready to continue to fight other quality fighters.

Khan doesn’t need to be protected like a glass vase from the best fighters in the light welterweight division. I think Khan is ready for them right now. His promoter will have a lot to say about whom he fights next, but I hope Khan stands up for himself if he finds himself matched against any more over-the-hill fighters or paper champions. I don’t think he needs that anymore.

Khan already fought Marco Antonio Barrera and Kotelnik, and beat them both. Now it’s time to face a real fighter like Maidana. Once Khan gets by him, then he should look at facing someone like Juan Urgango in a unification bout. That’s a fight I think Khan can easily win. The victory would give Khan a second title, the International Boxing Federation light welterweight belt, and increase his clout.

Khan should then look at another unification bout with either Devon Alexander or Timothy Bradley. Either one of those fighters would be a good choice. I’d say let Khan fight both of them and pick up all the light welterweight titles, and then go after a bout against Mayweather, if he’s still around and not retired. I don’t have much hope for Khan to face Ricky Hatton.

I really doubt that Hatton will fight again. The way that he’s going, he’ll probably be too old or two fat to fight by the time he does decide to fight again. No one will care about Hatton the longer he waits. That would be an excellent fight right now if Hatton had the inclination to come back. Khan would be much too fast for Hatton and would give him all kinds of problems with movement.