By William Mackay: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 Kos) will be sparring Manny Pacquiao this week in preparation for Khan’s bout against southpaw Paul McCloskey (22-0, 12 Ko’s) on April 16th.

Khan doesn’t want to overlook the threat that the 31-year-old McCloskey poses for him, yet Khan can’t stop talking about his future plans that are contingent upon Khan beating McCloskey. In an interview at the dailystar.co.uk, Khan mentioned that he wants to soon move up to the welterweight division after he cleans up the light welterweight division. Khan also plans on moving up to the junior middleweight division.

Here’s what Khan had to say in the dailystar interview: “I want to clean up at light welterweight and then move up to welterweight and light middleweight.”

Here’s the weird part: “I want to beat the likes of Victor Ortiz, clean up there and be a true champion like Manny Pacquiao.” Why on earth would Khan be interested in fighting Ortiz? Doesn’t Khan realize that Ortiz is being picked to lose to Andre Berto in their fight on 4/16?

What’s the point of fighting Ortiz is he’s already beaten? Since Khan won’t fight Pacquiao because of their friendship, that leaves on Berto. I don’t count Zaveck or Senchenko as champions. And I don’t see Khan ever facing Mike Jones, one of the top contenders in the welterweight division.

I just don’t see Khan ever becoming a “true champion.” He may pick off some vulnerable fighters, but to be a true champion, Khan would have to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr, Berto, Mike Jones and possibly Kell Brook at welterweight. If you exclude Pacquiao, those are the best guys in the division, and I don’t see Khan beating any of them, do you?

It appears that Khan will be moving up in weigh to light welterweight if he beats Timothy Bradley in July. However, that would still leave the IBF light welterweight title untouched by Khan, so he wouldn’t actually be cleaning up the light welterweight division if he didn’t first fight the IBF champion Zab Judah before leaving the division.

At welterweight there really only is Manny Pacquiao. WBC champ Andre Berto is completely untested and is only now about to get his first test of his entire career by facing Victor Ortiz. I kind of doubt Khan will get anywhere near Berto and it wouldn’t mean anything if Khan faces WBA champion Vyacheslav Senchenko or the IBF champ Jan Zaveck, because they aren’t well known fighters.

At junior middleweight, I can only see Khan going after one fighter at that weight. It would be Saul Alvarez, the young 20-year-old WBC junior middleweight champion. He’s a good fighter but totally flawed and vulnerable. Khan probably won’t get anywhere near Miguel Cotto, Sergiy Dzinziruk or Cornelius Bundradge.