By William Mackay: If WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (25-1, 17 KO’s) can get through his next fight against Timothy Bradley (27-0, 11 KO’s) on July 23rd, and perhaps beat IBF light welterweight champ Zab Judah in one more unification bout in 2011, if Khan’s promoters from Golden Boy Promotions decides to keep Khan for one more fight at light welterweight, he could be targeting WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (29-2-2, 22 Ko’s) in the future once Khan moves up in weight to the welterweight division.

Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach recently mentioned Ortiz as a potential opponent that Khan could be facing when/if Khan moves up in weight to the welterweight division. It’s still an ‘if’ thing because if Khan gets whipped badly by Bradley in July it would seem unlikely that Khan’s promoters would want to risk moving Khan up in weight to take on bigger punchers like Ortiz. If Khan gets knocked out by the light hitting Bradley or if he gets out-worked and loses on points, it would be the wrong move to have Khan moved up in weight to face guys that could do even more damage to Khan than Bradley.

Ortiz, as we saw in his recent 12 round unanimous decision win over WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto last weekend, punches with a lot of power at welterweight and is very strong at that weight. He came into the Berto fight at 161 pounds after re-hydrating after the weigh-in, and Ortiz was hurting Berto with left hands all night long. Khan wouldn’t be able to run and keep the powerful and accurate Ortiz off with weak flurries. Ortiz would likely easily walk through those weak shots and punish Khan in close.

Unlike Maidana, Ortiz doesn’t tire and is able to punch with a lot of power for three minutes of every round. Khan would be in serious trouble with a bigger, harder hitting guy like Ortiz pasting him with power shots for three minutes of every round. It would be the equivalent of Khan re-living the 10th round against Maidana in every round of the fight against Ortiz. As such, I can’t see Khan lasting long against Ortiz. But Golden Boy will likely know this as well, and keep Khan far away from Ortiz if they and when they do decide to move him up to the welterweight division. It looks like Roach is just talking without being the one who controls the levers of Khan’s career.