By Dan Ambrose: WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (51-5-1, 37 KO’s) has a big decision to make as to who he wants to fight next – WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) or WBO lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis (27-2, 22 KO’s). Marquez, 36, is likely going to take whichever fight brings him the most money unless the two are really close. In that case, you can expect that Marquez will take the less risky fight against the 30-year-old Katsidis rather than take a riskier fight against the much bigger and younger Khan.

One reason why it may not pay off to take the higher paying fight against Khan is that the money that Marquez will get for the fight will be decent, but nothing close to the kind of money he would make in a third fight against Manny Pacquiao. That’s the bout that Marquez really wants, but if he gets beaten while going after Khan’s WBA title, he’ll be effectively eliminated from any future chance of fighting Pacquiao unless Manny decides he wants to fight him anyway. Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, wants Marquez to prove himself capable of beating the top welterweights in the division before he’ll match Pacquiao up against him.

I doubt that Marquez is going to take the bait any of the welterweights right now. A light welterweight would be a really tough challenge for the 5’7” Marquez right now, and the top welterweights might be a step too far unless there was a catchweight for the fight. It still seems like a risky thing for Marquez at this point. He doesn’t have the same kind of speed, footwork and power that Pacquiao possesses and as such, it won’t be easy for him to move up in weight and wipe out fighters like Pacquiao has been doing.

Marquez will have his hands full just by taking on a fast light welterweight like Khan. Arum has already said that a win over Khan won’t be enough for him to put Pacquiao in with Marquez. This is why I think Marquez needs to ignore Khan and just focus on trying to beat the guys that he can in his own weight class. If Arum has made up his mind that he’s not going to match Pacquiao up against Marquez, then it seems pointless for Marquez to try and jump through all these hoops just to get a fight with Pacquiao.

I can see Marquez beating Joshua Clottey and Andre Berto, the two fighters that Arum has mentioned that he wants to see Marquez beat, and yet still not getting a fight against Pacquiao. Since Arum isn’t going to acknowledge a win by Marquez over Khan as being worthy enough to put Pacquiao in with him, Marquez needs to make up his mind and decide whether he want to follow Arum’s advice and take on Clottey or Berto or just stay at lightweight and defend his titles against Katsidis next. Clottey would seem to be the easier task at welterweight, because he doesn’t throw a lot of punches and can be out-worked just by being busy. Katsidis would be a great fight as well, but it won’t further Marquez’s case of trying to get a shot against Pacquiao.