By William Mackay: IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan is wondering why he took a lot of criticism for fighting the aging past his best Zab Judah while WBA regular light welterweight champion Marcos Maidana (31-2, 28 KO’s) didn’t receive any criticism for fighting the non top 15 ranked Russian Petr Petrov (29-3-2, 13 KO’s) last Saturday night at the Sociedad Alemana, Villa Ballester, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Khan said this on his twitter: “Maidana fought last night and won by KO. Well done! But the guy [Petrov] he fought wasn’t even [ranked] in the top 50 [at light welterweight]. Y [Why] is it when I fought [Zab] Judah, who was 4th in the world, I got criticized.”

It’s easy to explain. Maidana had no time to find anyone of quality because his opponent Robert Guerrero injured his shoulder. Petrov was the best fighter they could get on short notice. There are few quality fighters willing to step in and face Maidana with only a couple of weeks to prepare. Maidana also didn’t want to take on a dangerous opponent with that little time to get ready. As such, it’s completely understandable that Maidana chose to fight Petrov.

As for why Khan took criticism for fighting Judah, it’s because a lot of boxing fans saw Judah as a shot fighter. Boxing fans wanted Khan to fight a rematch with Maidana and or Breidis Prescott. Instead of fighting those guys, Khan fought Paul McCloskey, a weak puncher last April. That was seen as a cherry-picking move by a lot of fans, because the Maidana and Prescott fights would have given Khan a lot more positive press and more attention than picking out McCloskey, who fans had little knowledge of and who had little chance to beat Khan because of his lack of power.

Khan then followed that fight up with taking on the aging Judah, and looked terrible in his controversial 12 round decision win over Lucas Matthysse last year and then in his recent win over Kaizer Mabuza. Judah hadn’t looked good since beating 2nd tier fighter Jose Armando Santa Cruz in July 2010.

So if Khan wonders why he took criticism for his win over Judah and Maidana didn’t for his fight with Petrov, it’s likely because of Khan’s reluctance to fight the dangerous opponents – Matthysse, Maidana and Prescott – that boxing fans want to see him facing instead of the guys that are being fed to him by his promoters at Golden Boy.