By Chris Williams: For boxing fans eager to see WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (28-0, 12 KO’s) finally face IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir khan, they may finally be getting their wish. Bob Arum, who now promotes the 28-year-old Bradley, says he’s interested in putting together a fight between Bradley and Khan in 2012. The thought originally was for Arum to sign Bradley up and put him in against Arum’s NO.1 fighter Manny Pacquiao.

However, Bradley needs more exposure and big time wins under his belt before a fight between him and Pacquiao would be even slightly appealing to boxing fans. Right now, Bradley just doesn’t have enough solid victories to create any demand for fans to want to see him face Pacquiao in the near future. But a win over Khan, that would go a long ways for making Bradley a big enough star for Arum to match him up against Pacquiao and create a big pay per view bout.

Bradley fought recently on November 12th on the Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez III undercard. However, Bradley was wasted in that fight by being put in against 40-year-old Joel Casamayor. That turned out to be a terrible fight to watch, as Casamayor looked old and shot, doing little other than clinching the entire fight. Bradley needs a big name on his resume to increase his value right now, and Arum just doesn’t have enough fighters around Bradley’s weight class for him to put him in against right now.

If you match Bradley with the 6’0″ unbeaten welterweight contender Mike Jones, who is one of Arum’s fighters in his Top Rank stable, Bradley would likely get chopped down like a little tree. But Khan is a different story. He’s got a weak chin, zero inside fighting ability, and has been protected most of his career. This is a winnable fight for Bradley, but Arum has to convince Bradley that it’s the wise move to make the fight Khan-Bradley fight now rather than later. Bradley seems to think it’s better to wait for this fight, thinking that it will be huge in the future. But it won’t be if Bradley doesn’t fight anyone good to become a big enough name for people to care about a Bradley-Khan fight. Bradley is probably less popular today than he was a year ago because he hasn’t taken the Khan fight. He’s got to take that fight because people see him as afraid of Khan, and Arum obviously wants to increase his value and erase that perception.