By Sean McDaniel: Gary Shaw, the promoter for World Boxing Organization light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (26-0, 11 KO’s) is very interested in matching Bradley against WBO light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) in the near future, according to the Examiner.com. Shaw has reportedly made contact with Golden Boy Promotions, the promoter for Khan, to see if he could set up the fight between Khan and Bradley. However, Shaw still hasn’t heard anything back as of yet. Khan, 23, will be at the Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Juan Diaz lightweight bout tonight at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Khan is hoping to fight the winner of that bout, and is really interested in fighting Marquez more than Diaz. This is a fight that Golden Boy Promotions wants as well. Bradley and Shaw may have to wait a little while for a fight, because it’s looking like either Marquez or Diaz is going to be the next opponent for Khan. If Amir can get by Marquez and/or Diaz, then it will be up to Golden Boy who they want to put Khan in with. Khan has made suggestions in the past to them about who he would prefer to fight, but it looks like they want to guide him carefully in the fights that make the most money and generate more interest.

It’s safe to say that Marquez, 36, although a lot older smaller than the 23-year-old Khan at only 5’7” compared to the 5’10” Khan, is better known by American fans than Bradley. It may be too soon for a fight between Khan and Bradley to take place. Khan needs more fights under his belt in the United States so that the public have more of an idea who he is and what kind of talent that he has going for him. Perhaps a better fight for Khan after the Marquez or Diaz fight would be for Khan to be matched up against WBO lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis. He’s well known in the United States, has great power and an exciting style of fighting.

Katsidis, like Marquez, is also a lot smaller than Khan and less of a threat to knock him out because of that. Khan should be able to out-box Katsidis using his long reach. Marquez and Katsidis should be Khan’s next two fights. After that, if Bradley is still winning, it might be a fight to consider for Khan. However, Marcos Maidana, the WBA light welterweight interim champion, would seem like the much better option for Khan at that point. Maidana is well known in America and well liked. He also has a fighting style that is similar to Katsidis.

Going from Katsidis to Maidana would be perfect for Khan. Katsidis would be a warm-up for the fighting style of Maidana. Bradley is a fight that I see better left to 2012, not right now. Bradley needs to build up his name more before Khan takes him on. By the time they do fight in 2012, the fight would be huge by then.