By Scott Gilfoid: Former International Boxing Federation light welterweight and World Boxing Association welterweight champion Ricky Hatton has really gone out on a limb by picking WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (21-1, 15 KO’s) to beat his mandatory challenger Dmitriy Salita (30-0-1, 16 KO’s) on December 5th, at the Metro Radio Arena, in Newcastle, according to The Bolton News. You really think he’ll win, Ricky? Come on, this fight is something of a joke already.

Of course Khan is going to win this fight. I don’t know how this guy Salita was ever positioned at the top spot by the WBA. It just goes beyond me. Sometimes these sanctioning bodies really screw things up when ranking fighters, I see this as one of the many cases. Salita hasn’t beaten any top tier fighters to get to where he is and to throw him in with a fighter like Khan, as flawed as he is, will be the equivalent of tossing a goldfish into a shark tank. Khan is going to literally destroy Salita, and anyone can see that. Great pick, Hatton.

Hatton: “When he had that crushing defeat against Prescott, everyone didn’t think much of him. But he’s come back and rammed it right back down their throats by stepping up a weight and winning a world title.” Rammed what down what throat? What is Hatton talking about? All Khan did was beat a hand-picked paper champion in WBA light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik by a 12 round decision in July. Khan said it himself that Kotelnik was the weakest of the light welterweight champion.

I hardly think that Khan did any ramming by beating a fighter like Kotelnik. If anything, it continued to make Khan look a bit like a cherry picker in the minds of many boxing fans, because Khan chose not to go after World Boxing Organization light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley, the fighter who many people consider to be the best in the division. Heck, I’d have been satisfied if Khan had fought IBF champion Juan Urango rather than Kotelnik. That would have shown that Khan wasn’t afraid to fight a puncher at least. But by taking on a light hitter like Kotelnik, it looked like Khan was steered around the arguably more dangerous Bradley and Urango. I’m not all that impressed with Urango as a fighter, but he’s got heavy hands, a high pressure style of fighting and would be huge problems for Khan with his glass chin.

Khan: “This is what people want to see, they want to see Amir Khan fight tough fighters. Salita is the mandatory challenger and we’re not taking the easy route, we’re taking the hard route,” Khan said in an article at the Sportinglife.

No, Amir, people don’t want to see you fighting opponents like Salita, at least I know I don’t. They want to see you fighting rematches with Breidis Prescott, or taking on fighters like Timothy Bradley, Marcos Maidana, Devon Alexander or Juan Urango. If Khan chooses to fight another soft touch after Salita or vacate the title, then you can pretty much assume that Khan wasn’t interested in fighting Maidana, the WBA interim champion, or one of the other dangerous fighters. I honestly don’t see Khan ever facing Maidana or one of the aforementioned light welterweight champions. I can’t see it happening. They’re too dangerous and hit too hard.