By Nate Anderson: Now that WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan has signed with Golden Boy Promotions, it would seem like the last obstacle has been removed from A UK mega fight between Amir and Ricky Hatton. Previously, Hatton was hesitant to fight Khan while Amir was promoted by Frank Warren. That excuse isn’t there for Hatton now. If he doesn’t want to fight at this point, who knows what is the problem holding him up from doing so.

It can’t be for lack of money that the fight would generate, because this is the biggest fight that can be made in Britain right now. In an interview with the BBC, Hatton said that he’s looking to fight one more time and that he didn’t see Khan as a priority for him.

However, that was before the news broke that Khan signed with Golden Boy Promotions. With that signing, Hatton should have no excuse for not taking the big money for this fight. If Hatton’s main priority is to fight for a title, then this is his big chance. He doesn’t need to wait for Juan Urango and Devon Alexander to get freed up to fight him. Khan would be right there for the taking.

I’m fairly sure that Khan would be patient with Hatton and would be willing to wait for Ricky to pare off the massive amount of weight that he’s put in the past eight months. It would be worth Khan’s while to wait on this fight if allowed to by the WBA. However, if they’re insistent on Khan defending his title against Maidana, then he should vacate the title and focus exclusively on the waiting on Hatton.

Hatton, if he is interested in taking the super fight with Khan, he needs to speak up and no ruin his chance. Khan might not be there for him if he doesn’t go after him now. Hatton already messed up a chance at fighting Oscar De La Hoya in 2008. Instead of going after that fight, Hatton opted to fight Paulie Malignaggi and ended up making a lot less money than he would have made in the De La Hoya bout.

Manny Pacquiao, in turn, ended up fighting De La Hoya and made a huge payday and retired Oscar in the process. That could have been Hatton’s fight if he had wanted it. Hatton can’t let this fight with Khan slip though his fingers like he did with De La Hoya. If not Khan, who will Hatton fight? Juan Manuel Marquez? That might be an interesting fight, but it won’t make the kind of money or draw the same kind of interest than a Khan-Hatton fight. Additionally, Hatton has a good chance of being beaten by Marquez and that would minimize a chance against Khan down the road.

If Hatton was thinking about sticking around in the sport of boxing for a couple of years, maybe I could see him not fighting Khan. But Hatton is talking about fighting one, possibly two more times before retiring. How can’t he want to fight Khan with that little time left? Another reason to fight Khan now is that there are huge question marks about his own, as well as Khan’s chin.

Both of these fighters can go at any time if they’re hit right. Hatton needs to wake up and smell the coffee. He can’t let this chance go by because it might be the only one he has left.