By Jim Dower: Trainer Freddie Roach is really hoping that his fighter WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) can fight the winner of the July 31st bout between WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez and former lightweight champion Juan Diaz. In an interview by Socrates Celstial at Philboxing.com, Roach commented on both Diaz and Marquez, saying “He’ll [Khan] knock both guys out. Yeah, they’re [Marquez and Diaz] both washed up. They’re over the hill. Amir Khan will knock both guys out. I really want to fight [Marcos] Maidana next, but the thing is it’s just not available yet bot we’re tying to build that fight a little bit, then I want to fight [Timothy Bradley. Devon Alexander is with Don King right now and since that’s non-negotiable, we’ll leave him alone.”

This is pretty interesting for a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s difficult to picture Khan stopping a fighter like Marquez when neither Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr. were able to stop him in the past. Is Roach suggesting that Khan is a better puncher than Mayweather or Pacquiao? I find that hard to believe. Khan can summon up some power occasionally, but much of the time he’s slapping with his shots. In his last fight against the light hitting Paulie Malignaggi on May 15th, you saw Khan sitting down on his shots more because there wasn’t the worry of getting hit with something hard and getting taken out again like Khan was in the 1st round by Breidis Prescott in 2008.

But Roach must really want the Marquez fight bad for him to be calling Marquez “washed up” and “over the hill.” Granted, Marquez isn’t the same fighter he once was, but the loss to Mayweather, a much bigger fighter, is hardly a good reason to claim that Marquez is all of a sudden over the hill. I’d to imagine what would have happened to Khan if he was matched against Mayweather last year in pace of Marquez. I can see Khan getting knocked out by Mayweather, especially with the big shots that Mayweather was landing in the Marquez fight.

I seriously doubt that Khan would have been able to take much of those shots without folding early and being counted out on his back. Roach wants the Marquez-Khan fight, but it’s not a sure thing because Marquez wasn’t interested in fighting Khan last year, and he might not have changed his mind about it. You can’t blame Marquez. He’s really a super featherweight who moved up to the lightweight division late in career chasing a fight against Pacquiao.

Since Pacquiao hasn’t been interesting in fighting Marquez again after narrowly escaping with a questionable 12 round split decision in March 2008, Marquez has made the best of situation by winning both the WBA and WBO lightweight titles. He’s not a light welterweight and he’s not even big for the lightweight division. Roach wants Marquez to move in weight to the light welterweight to take on Khan at 140 for his WBA light welterweight title. That would benefit Khan, the bigger fighter, and would be Marquez at a decided disadvantage.

It’s hard to say what Roach and Golden Boy Promotions are waiting for by not putting Khan in with WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana (28-1, 27 KO’s). That’s the fighter that Khan should be looking to fight, not 36-year-old Marquez. Roach says they’re trying to build up the fight, but it seems like they’re waiting until someone else like Bradley knocks Maidana off for them. Then there would be no reason for Khan to have to fight a dangerous slugger like Maidana.