By Sean McDaniel: I’m almost hoping that the winner of the July 31st bout between Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz tell WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan to go pick on someone his own size from his own weight class, the light welterweight division, rather than giving in and taking the good money that will come with a fight against Khan.

It’s not going to be huge money, let’s be real about that. Marquez and Diaz won’t get the big money they would get in a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao, because Khan is still little known in the United States not a huge star yet.

This is where Diaz and Marquez come in. Both of them are smaller and older than Khan, and arguably less of a threat to knock Khan out. And both Marquez and Diaz are better known than Khan, and if Khan can be seen beating either of them, he will get the same recognition that he would if he was fighting in the same division as them.

The casual boxing fan won’t have a clue that Diaz and Marquez, both smaller than Khan by at least three to four inches, will be enticed to come up in weight to fight him for his WBA light welterweight title. So in beating Diaz or Marquez, Khan will have taken an express ride to making a name for himself the easy way without the risk.

In Khan’s last fight, he beat Paulie Malignaggi, a former IBF light welterweight champion who is popular, to some extent, and well known on the East coast of the United States. Malignaggi was a recognizable name for a division that has improved dramatically in the past two years.

You can say that Malignaggi went from being a champion to a relic almost overnight. In beating Malignaggi, Khan wasn’t facing the very best in the division; he was facing someone on the way down who had no power to be much of any threat to him.

The fighters that are a very serious threat to Khan – Marcos Maidana, Devon Alexander, Timothy Bradley and Victor Ortiz – are being looked past right now. You can’t say that Khan is strictly avoiding them because he only moved up to the division last year.

However, Khan is going to be forced to fight at least Maidana or else he’s going to end up being stripped of his title sooner or later. Unless Khan makes a deal to have Maidana stay away from him for a year or two, he’s going to have to face him.

I expect Khan to beat the Marquez-Diaz winner on size alone. Marquez will probably beat Diaz, but will be much too short, slow and old for him to beat a younger guy like Khan. This fight is coming too late in Marquez’s career at a weight class that is well above his old weight in the featherweight division.

That was the perfect weight class for Marquez. Once Khan gets past this fight, I’m really wondering if he’s going to drag this out and go after another lightweight WBO lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis.

I think that’s exactly what Khan will probably end up doing rather than facing a light welterweight. If he does have to defend his title, then it’s going to be trouble if he has to face someone like Ortiz or Mike Alvarado. Those guys will be problems for Khan. I think Khan will be able to get an exception, though, and might go after Katsidis instead.