By William Mackay: With Amir Khan signing with Golden Boy Promotions, you have to wonder whether Khan will be facing a bunch of easy marks in the near future to build up his name in the United States. It would be great if Golden Boy was willing to out Khan in with World Boxing Association interim light welterweight champion Marcos Maidana, but the chances of that happening are probably slim and none.

Maidana would have a chance of destroying Khan like he did another Golden Boy fighter Victor Ortiz and then Khan would be almost valueless for Golden Boy.

But at 23, how much longer will it take before they take the training wheels of Khan and put him in the deep end with hard punchers like Maidana and talented ones in the class of Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander and Kendall Holt? They can’t just point to Khan’s age indefinitely as the reason why they want to take things slow with him.

That won’t hold water forever. Alexander, the WBC light welterweight champion, is only 22, yet they’re throwing him in with big punchers like Juan Urango. Before that, Alexander was eager for a fight with Maidana.

Will Khan face Paulie Malignaggi next? What will that fight do for Khan besides angering a lot of boxing fans who wanted to see Amir in with Maidana? If Khan chooses that fight, fans are not going to be happy. And I question whether Khan will be able to make much of a mark with who have never seen him before unless he knocks Malignaggi out and really impresses.

I don’t see that happening. In fact, I think Khan will struggle with Malignaggi and he might end up winning a questionable decision. Malignaggi does well against boxers. The kind of fighters that Malignaggi has problems against are sluggers with a ton of power like Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto. I don’t put Khan in that class. Khan might have some power, but he doesn’t sit down on his punches like Cotto and Hatton.