By William Mackay: World Boxing Association (WBA) light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) prefers to be fighting lightweight Juan Manuel Marquez in December. However, if Marquez opts to stay at lightweight and fight WBO lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis instead, then the 23-year-old Khan will have to settle for fighting either Marcos Maidana or Victor Ortiz. In an interview at the BBC.co.uk, Khan says “I’m looking Marquez, Maidana or Victor Ortiz in December. I always promised the fans that I’m going to bring big fights to England and that’s what I’m hoping for. “

Khan would also like to fight Ricky Hatton if he was to make a comeback in the near future. Khan says “I’m not sure if Ricky has retired but if the fight did happen it would be huge.” It would be, but Hatton still hasn’t gotten that hunger that he constantly mentions needing before he’ll be able to start training again. But Hatton seems to have dropped some weight and doesn’t look nearly as rounded as he was six months ago. It probably wouldn’t be that hard for Hatton to trim off the rest of the weight to get down to 140 for a fight against Khan if he were motivated enough to take the fight. It would certainly be of big interest for boxing fans and it would be a fight that would help Khan’s career both in the United States and in the UK, if Khan were able to win the fight.

Khan also mentions Zab Judah as a potential opponent in the future, saying “Zab’s a great fighter; he’s tough and has a good style. The fight he fought recently wasn’t his best but he won convincingly. That could definitely be a fight in the future for me.” If Khan is interested in fighting Judah, then he needs to make a move soon because Judah is 32, and if Khan waits too much longer, Judah will likely be too faded to give Khan a real test. If they were to fight right now, Judah, due to his power and hand speed, would have a very real chance of beating Khan. You can’t say the same thing in the future if Khan waits him out until he’s 35 to fight him.

Khan wants to fight 36-year-old Marquez next. It’s a fight where Khan would get a lot of attention because Marquez is a very popular fighter, but a lot of the attention Khan would get would be negative because Marquez is a lot smaller than Khan and fights in a weight division below his. If Khan had already been taking on the top light welterweights in his own division rather than putting it off for later, he would be able to get away with fighting a guy like Marquez without taking heat. But Khan thus far hasn’t fought the top guys – Maidana, Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander or Ortiz – in his own division. He really needs to once he gets the Marquez fight over with.