Amir Khan Wants - And Deserves - A Major Bout

The wait has gone on long enough.

Amir Khan is quite a guy. Not only is he making his name in the ring while appearing all over the news, he's also offering a British vacation to some pretty notable figures.

"Love to get Cotto, Bradley, Marquez or winner of Mayweather v Pacquioa at Wembley stadium," the English welterweight posted to Twitter. "Would be massive. What do you think?"

Personally, I agree. Khan has a huge British fan base. A battle with the winner of the Floyd-Manny scuffle would make last year's Froch-Groves rematch look like a small time affair. A meeting with Cotto, Bradley, or Marquez would be no small deal, either.

For each of these men are major players, men who have been featured on pay per view attractions, men who Khan feels he should be in company with. That's understandable, of course, for the lightning fast puncher has been on the short list for both Mayweather and Pacquiao for quite some time now.

In short, Khan wants his moment in the spotlight. And frankly, he deserves the opportunity to try for it. At first blush, I would argue Khan could beat both Bradley and Marquez (no small thing), while standing a very good chance of besting Mayweather and Cotto (there, I said it). I'm not sure how well he'd match up against Pacquiao stylistically, but I wouldn't mind finding out.

Here's the thing - Khan has been left in the dark for a while now. It's time to give the kid his shot. Why, one might well ask, can Chris Algieri, Brandon Rios, and Mike Alvarado face some of the above mentioned names, but not Khan? Is the man a pariah - or is he perhaps a bit too dangerous to face without first getting a guarantee of a whole ton of money?

Last night saw Keith Thurman blast his way towards the top of the welterweight heap. It's only a matter of time before the guy called "One Time" is facing the division's crème de la crème - and with good reason. Make no mistake about it - boxing's landscape is simply beginning to look far better than it did a year ago.

If there's no room at the inn for Khan, however, the sport still has a long way to go before reaching its full potential.