By William Mackay: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (22-1, 16 KO’s) gave undefeated lightweight a bit of hope for a future fight, saying in an article at the Sun, “If Mitchell ever steps up a weight, maybe I’ll fight him. Opponents keep lining up for me, so he’ll have to get in the queue.” However, by then, Khan may have lost again, because the fighters that Khan has been mentioning as future opponents – Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley – would have an excellent chance of beating him by knockout if Khan is serious about fighting them and not just flapping his gums to hear himself talk.
Mitchell, 25, badly wants a fight with Khan to prove that he’s better than him and to get the big money that Khan is now getting for every fight. Mitchell will first have to get by WBO lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis (26-2, 21 KO’s) this Saturday night in Upton Park, then beat the full WBO champion Juan Manuel Marquez and move up in weight after that to get a shot at a big money fight against Khan. At 5’8”, with slender build and a bad tendency to eat punches, it’s going to be very difficult, if not impossible, for Mitchell to get past Katsidis and then Marquez.
While it’s possible in theory that Mitchell could win both of those fights, but it’s not very likely unless Mitchell can somehow squeeze out a narrow, albeit questionable, decision against both of those fighters in England. Khan isn’t impressed with Katsidis, saying “If I was fighting Katsidis, I’d knock him out in two or three rounds at most. Katsidis is a finished, washed up fighter, so I think its Mitchell who’s taken the easy fight.” I’m sure Katsidis would have something to say about Khan’s observation of him as being washed up, since he only has two losses in his career and has won three consecutive fights, including a 12 round war with highly touted prospect Vicente Escobedo to capture the World Boxing Organization interim lightweight title. Katsidis is far from washed up, but he is a slugger that tends to soak up punishment, as well as inflict it, in his fights.
Khan says “If he [Mitchell] wants to fight me, he has to move up. I’m world champion in my division and he still has to make a name for himself. He’s had something like 30 fights already, but if he can win a world title, it’d be a big, big fight for us.” Khan is talking about Mitchell winning a world title at light welterweight, I would assume. That would be next to impossible, I’m afraid. It would mean that Mitchell would have to move up in weight and beat light welterweight champions Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander. I’m not holding my breath on that happening, but in the same token, I’m not thinking Khan will have any better luck against either of those fighters. It’s interesting to see Khan talking about Mitchell not having made a name for himself.
That’s like the pot calling the kettle black. No one knows who Khan is outside of the UK, and he’s picked an easy target in Paulie Malignaggi as his first fight in the United States. It’s highly doubtful that Khan will have made a name for himself even if he beats Malignaggi this Saturday.
There are plenty of prospects and paper champions that HBO, Showtime and ESPN show on a weekly basis for one or two fights, and while they look good in beating up their badly over-matched opposition, they still don’t become huge stars or make a name for themselves. It usually takes a competitive fight against a tough opponent for a fighter to make a name for himself in the U.S. Khan and Malignaggi isn’t really the kind of fight that will make much of a name for Khan other than some people seeing Khan as a cherry picker.
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