By William Mackay: The manager of WBO lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis (27-2, 22 KO’s), Brendon Smith, thinks that World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) doesn’t want to fight Katsidis, according to the BBC. Katsidis, 29, was interested in fighting Khan next after destroying Kevin Mitchell in the 3rd round on May 15th in London. Katsidis and Joel Casamayor were considered options for Khan’s next bout by Golden Boy Promotions, the promoters for Khan.

However, instead of taking on Katsidis, the younger, arguably much bigger knockout threat, Khan’s promoters have opted to fight 38-year-old Casamayor next on July 31st. Smith doesn’t appear happy with the decision, saying to the BBC Sport, “I am confident in saying Khan’s team have viewed the tape of Michael against Kevin Mitchell and a cross would have gone through Michael’s name immediately. Therefore Joel Casamayor has now become a much safer choice. Michael Katsidis has never pulled out of a fight with Amir Khan… we have never received an offer to fight Amir Khan.”

It’s unclear why Casamayor was selected for Khan over the younger Katsidis, but it may be due to a combination of things, such as Casamayor not being as big a knockout threat as Katsidis and possibly financial reasons. Katsidis’ manager said they were interested in fighting Khan, but only as long as “Michael is paid accordingly.” It could be that Casamayor was the cheaper option financially compared to Katsidis, who’s career is moving well at the moment.

Casamayor, who will turns 39 in July, previously stopped Katsidis two years ago in March 2008. However, Casamayor was stopped in the 11th round in his very next fight against Juan Manuel Marquez in September 2008. Casamayor has fought once since that crushing knockout loss, defeating a fighter by the name of Jason Davis last year in November.

Katsidis has won four straight fights, beating quality fighters like Jesus Chavez, Vicente Escobedo and Mitchell. Katsidis was beaten in back to back fights by Casamayor and Juan Diaz in 2008. However, Katsidis has put those losses behind him and picked up the WBO lightweight interim title with a 12 round decision win over Escobedo last year in September 2009.

Khan is taking heat from boxing fans for selecting Casamayor for his next fight. Khan’s last opponent was the weak-punching Paulie Malignaggi in May. Khan won the fight by an 11th round stoppage. After the fight, Khan said he wanted to fight the top light welterweights in the division. But instead of facing a top light welterweight, he’s facing Casamayor, who recently moved up to the light welterweight division but isn’t currently ranked in the top 15.

Khan moved up in weight from the lightweight division last year, defeating Andriy Kotelnik by a 12 round decision to win the WBA light welterweight title. It was a curious choice for Khan to choose Kotelnik to fight given that Khan had said that he didn’t think Kotelnik was a good fighter before he opted to select him over fighters like Timothy Bradley and Juan Urango to fight.