By Scott Gilfoid: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KO’s) is in deep trouble now that WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (27-0, 11 KO’s) has beaten WBC light welterweight champ Devon Alexander (21-1, 13 KO’s) and proved that he’s the best fighter in the division. Bradley is now poised to whip Khan and put a rubber stamp on the fact that he’s the best fighter in the entire division. Khan has a fight coming up against someone – probably John Murray or Lamont Peterson – on April 16th at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester, England.

Khan was able to win his last fight against the hard puncher Marcos Maidana using a combination of strategies that were likely taught to him by his trainer Freddie Roach. In order to foil Maidana’s power advantage, Khan used a lot of running and mixed in a massive amount of holding onto one of Maidana’s arms to keep him from punching and then shoving him really hard when he would come inside looking to land. Khan really has no inside game and the shoving is a way for him to keep fighters like Maidana from coming inside on him. Normally, a referee warns and then takes off points for fighters that shove other fighters while in close but Khan got a away with this against Maidana all night long. If you’re allowed to shove, it means that you don’t have to develop inside fighting ability because you can always shove your opponent to keep him on the outside. It shouldn’t be like that, but it takes an engaged, proactive referee to stop it.

The shoves were, of course, not something that boxers should be able to do but referee Joe Cortez failed to penalize Khan for doing this. The arm bars that Khan was putting on Maidana was also something that Khan used to tie up Maidana’s powerful right hand when he was getting blasted apart in rounds 10, 11 and 12. Maidana used his left hand to really club Khan each time he would do this, but Cortez, instead of allowing Maidana to club Khan, would then separate them and put the action back in the center of the ring. This was like giving Khan a gift because he was able to be freed up from getting pasted with left hands by Maidana.

So the question is for the Bradley-Khan fight, will Khan be able to run, shove and hold his way to victory against Bradley? My thoughts are no. If the fight is held in American and there is a different referee working the fight, then I see Khan being penalized for the shoving and forced to endure Bradley’s shots while holding onto one of his arms the way he did with Maidana. If Cortez works the fight, then, yes, I can see Khan beating Bradley because he will likely shove and hold just enough to get the win without being penalized and the action being halted to give Khan room to fight.