By William Mackay: In an interview of former heavyweight Tim Witherspoon at fighthype.com, Witherspoon pointed out what a lot of boxing fans believe about World Boxing (WBA) light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KO’s), saying this about Khan: “There are some dudes out there that will take him out in the 1st or 2nd round. I think that’s why they keeping him from some of them dudes. They were up there saying they want Mayweather in England.”

This was to a response to the question about whether Witherspoon felt that Khan’s days were numbered. To be sure, you want to give Khan the benefit of the doubt as being a great fighter, but when you see him being kept away from guys like Breidis Prescott, who knocked him out in one round in 2008, it makes you wonder. You see Khan not fighting a rematch with Marcos Maidana, who had him staggering around the ring, and you see referee Joe Cortez brought in for the Khan-Maidana fight, and you see Khan being steered towards European fighters now instead of someone tough like Prescott or Lucas Matthysee. Khan may end up fighting a small lightweight John Murray in his next fight in April rather than someone with power and who would have a chance to beat him.

That seems like a case of Khan being shielded from Prescott, Maidana and Matthysee, fighter that would have a chance to actually beat him. It took Khan two years to finally face a quality fighter after getting knocked out by Prescott in 2008, and when Khan finally did face someone good in Maidana, the fight was marred in the later rounds when Cortez kept breaking up the action as Maidana was teeing off on Khan on the ropes.