By William Mackay: It now looks like World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Amir Khan (22-1, 16 KO’s) won’t be facing WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana anytime soon, if ever. In an article with The Sun, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer says “A fight against [Juan Manuel] Marquez is a breakthrough as he is one of the best and Mexico’s No 1 active fighter. Once he [Khan] wins against Marquez, there is the possibility of a fight against Zab Judah – and then [Floyd] Mayweather Jr.”
The fight against the 36-year-old Marquez would be taking place on May 15th in the United States. This would be Khan’s debut fight in front of U.S. audiences. Khan was ordered by the WBA to defend his title against knockout artist Marcos Maidana. However, Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach doesn’t like that fight for obvious reasons.
Khan has already been knocked out in one round by the hard hitting Breidis Prescott in September 2008, and Maidana, who perhaps hits even harder than Prescott, would be a big danger for Khan. If Khan doesn’t fight Maidana within the year, you would have to assume that Khan will either vacate his WBA title or have it stripped from him for not fighting Maidana. Schaefer seems confident that Khan will get by Marquez.
That’s not a certainty either, even though Marquez is getting old, and would be fighting above his natural weight in a fight against Khan. If Khan does get by Marquez, Judah would be a good fight. Judah isn’t a piece of cake either. He can still hit hard and he would be very dangerous for Khan, because Amir isn’t a big fighter.
Judah’s loses have mostly come against welterweights, not light welterweights. It’s ridiculous to imagine Khan facing Mayweather in the near future. It doesn’t matter if Khan somehow beats Marquez and Judah, a fight against Mayweather would be way over his head and I can’t imagine him doing anything other than getting knocked out in a one-sided fight.
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