By Dan Ambrose: While WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (25-1, 17 KO’s) and a certain segment of U.S. boxing fans want to see him fight WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (27-0, 11 KO’s) next in July, the problem is the interest and the money for this fight aren’t huge as of yet. Khan doesn’t mind taking the fight because he’ll likely be getting UK money on top of the $1.4 million he’d make from HBO.

However, Bradley would only be getting $1.3 million and he’s already guaranteed a $1.2 million payday by HBO no matter who Bradley fights next. It makes no sense for Bradley to fight Khan for only $1.3. The fight is way too premature right now for the big money that Bradley and Khan could be getting if they wait for a year or two. Bradley would be making a mistake to fight Khan anytime soon. The fight needs to marinate two or three years while Khan builds a following in the U.S, and the same for Bradley.

It’s too early for this fight and if Bradley takes it now for the money that’s been offered to him, it will pretty much mean that his future fights will likely be bringing in less than that number. Since this is the biggest fight for Bradley in the light welterweight division and it doesn’t get better than this, why short change yourself by taking the small money? Bradley needs to let this fight build. If Khan doesn’t want to wait, so be it. Let him move up to welterweight and cherry pick opponents if he wants to.

If Khan fights anyone good like Victor Ortiz, Mike Jones or Andre Berto, he’s going to get knocked out and send back down to the light welterweight division hunting for Bradley again. Bradley doesn’t have to rush because Khan has nowhere to go. He won’t win any fans by taking on and beating one of the welterweight paper champions like Vyacheslav Senchenko and Jan Zaveck, because U.S. fans have no clue who those fighters are. The only way Khan wins any fans at welterweight is to take on the best and I see him losing and ending up back at light welterweight.

Bradley needs to go after the best names at light welterweight and then look to take on Khan in at least two years after Khan has fought at least six more times in the U.S. The Bradley-Khan fight will be huge that way and Bradley will get a big payday instead of the small money he’s being offered now. It’s got to be a pay-per-view bout and right now neither Khan or Bradley are well known enough in the U.S to make their fight a PPV bout. They need more fights under their belt before they can get the big money.