(Photo: Hoganphotos) By William Mackay: If Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KO’s) can beat WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (23-0, 14 KO’s) tonight, Khan could find himself facing Floyd Mayweather Jr. at 147 this year.

Khan told Sky Sports “One of the reasons I want to move up to 147 pounds is to fight Mayweather and it’s not about the money, it’s about knowing I can beat the guy and be the next guy at the top, the next pound-for-pound champion.”

According to Sky Sports news, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer says that fight between Khan and Mayweather could happen after Mayweather is released from jail. Khan will have to do his part in the equation by beating Garcia, and that’s no given that Khan will do this. After all, most boxing fans thought it would be a mere formality that Khan would dispatch the light hitting Lamont Peterson in his last fight in December of last year, but Khan fell apart under the pressure from Peterson and ended up losing that fight. Seeing that fight you can’t predict a safe fight at all for Khan in the top 10. He can blow away bottom 10 opposition, but top 10 is a whole different matter.

Even if Khan can get a fight against Mayweather and beat him like he’s dreaming about, it still likely won’t make Khan #1 pound-for-pound. There’s a fighter by the name of Manny Pacquiao, and as long as he’s still around, Khan will have to settle for #2 unless he can put aside his friendship with Pacquiao long enough for them to fight each other to prove who’s the best. This is all dream stuff, though, because Khan was already exposed by Peterson, a guy that I rank well below Mayweather.

If Khan can’t even beat Peterson then how on earth is he ever hope to defeat Mayweather? I love the fight, but I don’t like Khan’s chances in that bout. It’s a good fight for boxing fans, but Khan will have to show a lot more than he did against Peterson for him to win. And Khan will also have to fight cleanly to beat Mayweather. They won’t give Khan a decision over Mayweather Jr. if Khan is shoving, pulling down on his head and putting him in headlocks. Khan will have to really clean up his game to make sure he doesn’t lose multiple points in the way of point deductions for his chronic fouling. He’ll also have to stop running as much and stop to actually fight Mayweather.