By Scott Gilfoid: Josesito Lopez (30-5, 18 KO’s) has been mentioned as a possible opponent for former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) in April next year. Lopez, 28, is highly interested in facing Khan, and he thinks he can beat him and make a name off of him. Lopez got a chance to see Khan’s win over the smallish 5’6” Carlos Molina last Saturday night, and Lopez wasn’t impressed at all in Khan’s performance in that fight, noting that Khan is still getting hit despite signing on a defensive trainer in Virgil Hunter.
Lopez said to the Boxing Channel “I wasn’t too impressed. He [Khan] fought a smaller guy fighter. Unfortunately for Molina, he really couldn’t get his attention with any of his punches. He managed to land some punches, some good left hooks, but they didn’t seem to startle Khan too much.”
Khan was getting hit a lot by Molina in the first part of the fight, but Molina didn’t look like his punches had any effect on Khan whatsoever. Molina looked like a chunky lightweight with size that wasn’t going to work at 140.
I’d give the 5’9 ½” Lopez a really good chance of beating Khan if they were to fight. He’s just a half inch shorter than the 5’10” Khan, and he wouldn’t have to worry about being too small or too weak to hurt Khan because Lopez can punch just as hard as Khan can, but with a lot less hand speed.
It’s still unknown if Lopez will get the Khan fight, because Khan said recently that the Lopez fight isn’t finalized for April. Khan didn’t sound too interested in that fight, and instead was talking about how he’ll be fighting for a world title in April. WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi’s name has been mentioned as the guy that Khan could be fighting.
Khan was saying that he would be fighting for a world title in April, and then fighting a unification bout with WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia later on in the year. However, Khan can’t very well be fighting a unification bout with Garcia if the title that he picks up is the WBA 147 pound strap rather than a 140 pound title.
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