Who should Amir Khan face next?

Khan battering Salita (AP Photo)

Amir Khan is one of the brightest prospects in boxing today, as shown by his thrashing of Dmitriy Salita last weekend. There are still those who doubt his abilities however, and claim he is taking easy fights to protect his record.

While he has faced some less than stellar competition of late, it should be remembered that he is still only 23 and as such is a work in progress. Next year however will probably mark an acid test for Khan, as he moves up in competition and begins to face some of the best fighters in the world.

While he has all the skills needed to beat anyone at light welterweight at the moment, the biggest concerns around Khan are that he has yet to face a tough fight that he really has to dig deep to win. The only fights he has gone the distance in he was still winning easily, and he has never really been pushed in his fights. Against some of the better light welterweights he will certainly be pushed, and not knowing how he will react to this is why a lot of people still doubt him.

With that in mind, I took a look at some prospective opponents for Khan in the near future:

Breidis Prescott (AP Photo)

Breidis Prescott is the only man to have beaten Khan so far in his career, and Khan by all accounts is eager to set the record straight. Fellow British prospect Kevin Mitchell also dominated Breidis on the under card of Khan's last fight, giving a performance which Khan himself is certainly capable of replicating. Breidis also possesses a big punch, something that Khan has tended to avoid facing in most of his fights since his sole loss. A convincing win over Prescott would go a long way to assuaging some of the doubters of Khan, and would prove Khan can beat big punchers without his shaky chin being a constant worry.

Devon Alexander (AP Photo)

Devon Alexander is one of the few light welterweights ranked higher than Khan on some lists, and is another good light welterweight prospect. He also recently beat the somewhat forgotten British light welterweight Junior Witter, who has struggled to gain much recognition for most of his career due to the successes of Ricky Hatton and falling short at the worst moments. Some might say that Alexander is a big risk at this stage of Khan's career, but he would nevertheless be the favorite going in. Alexander also has the WBC title, which Khan could no doubt use to get bigger fights, more acclaim and bigger pay days.

Paulie Malignaggi (AP Photo)

Paulie Malignaggi would represent a smaller step up in competition for Khan as well as presenting a very low risk of knocking him out. The naysayers would state that Paulie 'pillow hands' Malignaggi is a hand picked opponent for someone like Khan, but at the same time he is a recognized name. This is particularly good for the pride of Bolton because Khan hopes to crack the American marketplace in the near future. A win over Paulie would go a long way towards that.

Ricky Hatton (AP Photo)

Khan has said that he would like to both fight in England again soon, and fight Ricky Hatton. Coming off a layoff and a loss to Khan's stablemate Manny Pacquiao, Hatton seems like an ideal opponent. Not to mention many rankings still have Hatton at the top of the light welterweight division. The only problems with making this fight happen is that Khan is promoted by Frank Warren, who Hatton has had legal problems with in the past. Also Hatton has said he will probably only have one more fight, and assuming he wants to go out on a win, the fight would be a big risk for both men.

Other contenders:

Freddie Roach has also put forward the names of Victor Diaz and José Luis Castillo as possible future opponents for Khan, both of which he should be able to deal with fairly easily. Marcos Maidana is now the number one contender to Khan's WBA, and is also a big puncher and a tough fight for Khan. Nate Campbell has also been mentioned, although is a little past his best for this to be as impressive as it would have been several years ago. Juan Manuel Marquez is another fighter Khan has said he would like to face, but back at light welterweight this would be a big challenge for Khan, and Marquez would certainly fight a lot better than he did against Floyd Mayweather.