By William Mackay: I recently made a minor prediction that International Boxing Federation (IBF)/World Boxing Association (WBA) Super World light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-1, 18 KO’s) would target the winner of the September 17th clash between 35-year-old Erik Morales (51-7, 35 KO’s) and Lucas Matthysse (28-2, 26 KO’s) rather than the arguably much more dangerous prospects of fighting the winner of the August 27th fight between Robert Guerrero and Marcos Maidana as well as the September 10th fight between Khan conqueror Breidis Prescott and Paul McCloskey.

As it turns out, it looks as if I’m right on this as Khan is now openly saying that he wants to fight the Morales vs. Matthysse winner rather than the more dangerous prospects of fighting Prescott, Guerrero or Maidana. It’s kind of a no brainer, right? Matthysse has lost two out of his last three fights and Morales lost his last fight. This is like Khan is taking the path of least resistance. Matthysse and Morales aren’t in the same league as guys like Prescott, Guerrero or Maidana in my opinion, and wouldn’t you know, Khan is going after the arguably weaker options. How come I’m not surprised?

Khan said this in an interview at sportinglife.com: “I definitely want the winner of Morales and Matthysse. That would be another title in the bank.”

Yes, that would be a title but a paper title if you ask me. How could Khan he happy fighting the winner of that fight when Matthysse has already been beaten in two of his last three fights, including his last one, and Morales is also coming off a loss. What good is that? I really like Matthysse as a fighter, but he’s struggled in those defeats against Zab Judah and Devon Alexander. And while I do think Matthysse deserved a win in both fights, the fact that he struggled in both of them doesn’t make him a good option for a fight against Khan. And Morales just lost to a guy – Maidana – that Khan already beat.

Why fight Morales if he beats Matthysse? I suspect that Morales will beat Matthysse next month but under very controversial terms. I can’t see Morales beating Matthysse by a clear cut decision because he’s going to get out-punched and out-landed by Matthysse. That goes without saying, because Morales’ work rate isn’t what it was and he’s getting outworked in a lot of his fights now. However, I see the judges giving Morales the decision anyway unfortunately and this will set up a laughable fight between Khan and Morales. This will enable Khan to go after a third title and his third paper title in my view. Khan has picked up title belts against Andriy Kotelnik and Zab Judah, both of which I saw as paper champions. If Khan had to fight Prescott, Guerrero or Maidana for those titles, I see him getting beaten. I know Khan beat Maidana in the past, but I think Khan would have lost that fight had a different referee been working it instead of Joe Cortez.