By William Mackay: It’s pretty clear that IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan will be looking to add the WBC title to his collection by beating the winner of the September 17th bout between Erik Morales and Jorge Barrios, who will be fighting for the World Boxing Council belt that is being stripped from Timothy Bradley. Why Khan would want to chase after a paper title is what’s hard to understand.

Morales and Barrios aren’t considered to be on the same level as guys like Robert Guerrero, Marcos Maidana, and Lucas Matthysse. Those are the guys that Khan should be fighting, not old guys like Zab Judah and Morales. Khan has yet to win a title against a really good fighter in the light welterweight division. He beat Andriy Kotelnik for the WBA title in 2009, and Kotelnik was considered by a lot of boxing fans as a paper champion.

Then Khan recently beat Judah, who was given a controversial gift decision over Matthysse last year. Morales was just beaten by Maidana, so why would Khan want to fight him if he beats Barrios for the WBC strap? It’s like a getting an ‘A’ on a paper that you didn’t even have to really work for. Morales has no business fighting for the WBC belt, and Barrios isn’t even ranked.

Why would Khan want to fight the winner of that fight to pick up a meaningless title? Khan really needs to follow in Floyd Mayweather’s footsteps and take only meaningful fights against top fighters instead of cashing paper titles. I know Manny Pacquiao is into collecting titles against fighters that aren’t always the best at their weight class, but Khan shouldn’t follow in that pattern.

Why fight for a title if no one is going to give you credit? Khan should be trying to avenge his loss to Breidis Prescott or taking on guys like Maidana and Guerrero. I don’t care that Khan barely beat Maidana in the past; A rematch between Khan and Maidana will be a much better than to see Khan face an old and slow Morales.