Who Should Amir Khan Face After He Beats Dimitry Salita?

With a fight against Dimtry Salita arranged in December for the current WBA light Welterweight champion, questions have arisen about who he should face next. It's often too easy to over look an opponent but to be honest Khan should see off the unbeaten but rather limited looking American based Ukrainian with out too many problems. Salita is too ease to hit and often looks rather clumsy with a record that is rather padded even with more recent fights being against rather poor opponents instead of other possible challengers.

So after Khan has made the first defence of his title lets look at the possible opponents he could face and why they would be a suitable opponent. From a British point of view there is only one fight that can be made, Khan v Hatton preferably at the City of Manchester stadium or Wembley in what would easily be able to sell out any venue in the UK. It would act as Hatton's last hoorah and would see of the most popular British fighters of the modern era face off in a mega smash that would be the biggest money fight in Britain. In fact as far an all British fight it may well be the biggest money fight in history exclusively on PPV in the UK and the USA the fight would tick almost every box. Undoubtedly the nay sayers would say that Hatton is over the hill and should stay out of the ring and some would think of a Khan victory as rather hollow the mainstream public would lap it up and it'd sell it's self. If Khan won the torch would be passed on, if Khan lost Hatton would retire on a victory in one of the biggest fights of his career.

Although Hatton may well have retired before Khan gets into the ring again so that match up may never happen, a fight with Timothy Bradley the WBO champion at the weight however would also be very tempting to all parties involved. Bradley is unbeaten and 26 himself so in his prime, though a fight with Lamont Peterson will need to be fought first (12^th December is the scheduled date for this fight, a week after Khan v Salita), if Bradley wins that he'll be 25-0-0-1 with either 11 or 12 KO's (depending on whether or not he stops Peterson). Not being a noted puncher will help Bradley seem like a good choice of opponent with the known chin problems Khan has and would be a popular choice with his promoter Frank Warren who has tried to pick fighters with out power for Khan. Bradley has fought in England before but it would probably be a better idea for Khan to take the fight and have it in the US giving him a more tangible feel to the US audience. The fight could be sold as revenge for Bradley beating Junior Witter (a fellow British fighter) as well as a unification fight (WBA and WBO titles) which would help it sell.

However the man who looks to be first in the queue is a man with a huge punch and is more deserving than most. Marcos Rene Maidana who stopped Victor Ortiz in his last fight will need to get past William Gonzalez first (they fight on 21^st November) though is almost guaranteed the WBA champion within 90 days of the Khan v Salita fight (whoever wins). Maidana is a hard hitting Argentinian with a record consisting of 26 wins and 1 loss, 25 of his wins coming by way of KO. His only loss was on a split decision in Germany to Ukrainian fighter and former WBA champion Andrei Kotelnik (in a title fight with him) in which he visible shook up the champion. Maidana is seen as arguably the divisions most dangerous fighter at the moment due to his heavy hands and as a result would be someone Khan would be hoping to avoid.

The fact of the matter is that Khan will need to fight Maidana with in 90 days of the Salita fight (given that he wins) or he will be stripped of his WBA title. Though the Hatton fight would be huge it's unlikely to take place if Khan wants to keep his title, so, sadly Khan's next opponent is likely to be the one he has to face in a mandatory defence, as opposed to the spectacle many boxing fans may wish to see. A possible summer 2010 date for Ricky Hatton's farewell is possible at a stretch, in a football stadium it may be a dream that will never happen sadly and instead Hatton may just be better off retiring now.