By Dan Ambrose: WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (27-0, 11 KO’s) is hoping to get a fight against Manny Pacquiao after Bradley faces and beats WBA Super World light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KO’s) on July 23, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bradley’s last fight with his current promoter Gary Shaw will end with the Khan fight, and you can bet that if Bradley beats Khan, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum will immediately sign Bradley to a promotional contract and thus we’ll be seeing a Top Rank in house fight between Bradley and Pacquiao, who also is a Top Rank fighter.

However, the chances of Bradley beating Khan don’t appear to be all that good because of Khan’s superior hand speed, jab, power and pure boxing ability. Bradley does well against stationary fighters that stand in one spot all fight long. This enables Bradley to plod forward and come in head first to fight them at close range. His head often comes in contact with his opponents due to his lack of reach. It’s not going to be easy for Bradley to beat Khan, because Khan will be on the move constantly, and won’t be there for Bradley to hit.

It’s very likely that Bradley will face Pacquiao in either late 2011 or early 2012 if Bradley can beat Khan. Arum will want to take advantage of Bradley’s popularity from a Khan victory as soon as possible. Arum won’t be able to make a Bradley vs. Pacquiao a bigger fight by waiting and allowing Bradley to take on other fighters, because there’s only Khan and Marcos Maidana at light welterweight in terms of popular fighters. Maidana would likely beat Bradley and ruin Arum’s dream of putting Bradley in with Pacquiao. As such, we’ll see Bradley-Pacquiao soon after a Khan victory.