Amir Khan fighting next on December 11th, possibly against Diaz-Marquez winner

By Boxing News - 06/26/2010 - Comments

Image: Amir Khan fighting next on December 11th, possibly against Diaz-Marquez winnerBy Chris Williams: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) will be back in action on December 11th on HBO. Khan and his promotional team, Golden Boy Promotions, are hoping to match the 23-year-old Khan up against the winner of the July 31st lightweight clash between former champion Juan Diaz and WBA/WBO lightweight champions Juan Manuel Marquez. The winner of that fight, if they’re interested in getting a good payday, will move up in weight and take on Khan for his WBA light welterweight title. It’s a win-win for Khan, because he’s bigger, younger and faster than both Diaz and Marquez and would have the advantage of that going for him.

At the same time, Khan would be able to take advantage of the popularity of Diaz and Marquez to get some fame of his own, without as much danger as it would be for Khan to fight top fighters from his own weight class the light welterweight division. In the case of Marquez, who probably stands a good chance of beating Diaz next month, he’s also 37 and doesn’t look as good as he used to while fighting as a featherweight and super featherweight.

He lost his last fight to Floyd Mayweather Jr. by a lopsided 12 round decision in September of last year when Marquez had to bulk up to 143 to fight Mayweather at a catch weight. Marquez, 5’7″, appears to be too small to put that kind of weight on without being badly slowed as a result.

If Khan were to stick to fighting guys from his own division, it would mean that he would have to fight the likes of Devon Alexander, Timothy Bradley, Marcos Maidana, and Victor Ortiz to build up a name for himself. Those fights would be very tough for Khan and there’s no guarantee that he would have the chin to make it through any of them without facing repeated knockouts one after another. However, beating a lightweight would seem like an easier option for now. Hopefully, Khan starts facing these kinds of fighters soon so he can boxing fans can find out if he has what it takes to be a legitimate star in the division. If not, it’s better that Khan find out sooner rather than later so that he can move back down in weight and fight in the lightweight division.

Khan could be good enough to dominate the lightweight division if he’s not weakened having to make weight every time. But if Khan can’t deal with guys like Maidana, Ortiz, Bradley and Alexander, he may not have much choice in the matter. This is why it’s hopeful that Khan will start to face them in the near future. Since moving up to the light welterweight division last year, Khan has faced Andriy Kotelnik, Dmitri Salita and Paulie Malignaggi. None of those fighters are considered to be in the class of Bradley, Alexander or even Maidana. Kotelnik beat Maidana, but did it in Germany under a cloud of controversy. In theory, Khan could string it out for a long time by not fighting Alexander, Bradley and Maidana, so that by the time he does eventually meet up with them, it could be far off into the future. Of course, Khan would be stripped of his WBA light welterweight for not fighting Maidana, but Khan would still not have to fight him.



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