By Eric Thomas: In news that will surely disappoint boxing fans of Amir Khan (20-1, 15 KOs), the word is that former light welterweight champion Ricky Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs) will never fight Khan, a personal friend of his. The thought of Hatton one day fighting Khan has been kicked around by some ever since Amir won a silver medal in the 2004 Olympics for Britain.
However, with Khan fighting in the lightweight division and having problems with his career with a 1st round knockout loss to Breidis Prescott last year in September 2008, the thought of Khan mixing it up with a fighter in the class of Hatton seems almost laughable.
But, then again, it seems rather absurd that an over-the-hill Marco Antonio Barrera was dragged out for a fight against Khan in a move to give Khan some credibility as a fighter. Also odd is Khan’s announcement that he’ll be moving up in weight to fight WBA light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik, a fighter that Khan had only recently said was one of the worst of champions.
With Khan’s move up to the light welterweight division with the Kotelnik fight, the speculation begins again whether Hatton might one day choose to fight Khan. No doubt the fight if it came off would be one of the hugest fights in the UK, if not the entire boxing world. Khan with his large following against Hatton with super star appeal worldwide fighting it out in a bout that would almost surely be something along the lines of Pacquiao vs. Hatton.
Sadly, the fight will likely never come off because Hatton has said that he only wants to fight three more times and then retire from boxing. Hatton is looking at fighting Juan Manuel Marquez and Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Khan doesn’t seem to be in the plans for Hatton before he steps away from the sport.
Besides the friendship problem for Hatton-Khan, is that Amir hasn’t yet set the world on fire with his victories in his four year pro career. Besides his first round knockout loss to Prescott last year, Khan has been dropped several times in his career against less than stellar competition.
In Khan’s last fight against Barrera, Khan was stunned by a left hook in the 2nd round of the fight. For Hatton to even consider giving Khan a fight, Amir would have to show immediate improvement with his weak chin, take on much better opposition than Kotelnik, Barrera, and Oisin Fagan – Amir’s last three opponents – and look like a top level fighter. Right now, I find it hard to see Khan’s chin improving or him taking on top flight opponents like Timothy Bradley, Juan Manuel Marquez or Edwin Valero.
It’s scary to think of what Hatton would do to Khan if he got the chance to fight him. If Hatton wasn’t taking it easy on Khan, I suspect that Khan wouldn’t make it beyond the 1st or 2nd round of the fight. Hatton would literally walk right through Khan’s jabs, get inside and rip him apart with hooks and uppercuts to the head and body.
It wouldn’t matter a hill of beans what scheme that Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach puts together or how much time that Khan spars with Pacquiao before the fight, Khan would still very likely be starched in the first two rounds of the fight. But at least the fight would make a ton of money for both fighters and give Khan a career money making fight in losing.
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