By Sean McDaniel: In an about face, World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Amir Khan (22-1, 16 KO’s) now thinks that former IBF light welterweight title holder Ricky Hatton should retire from boxing, according to The Telegraph. Khan, speaking about Hatton, says that Ricky should “retire and chill out.” This is pretty interesting coming from Khan considering that he and his trainer Freddie Roach have been talking about wanting to fight Hatton in 2010.
Indeed, Hatton has been of huge interest by Khan for months now because of the popularity of Hatton and the huge payday that it would mean for Khan if he could land a fight with Hatton. More than that, a fight against Hatton would go along ways towards establishing Khan as a premier fighter if he could beat Hatton in an impressive manner. The problem, however, is that Hatton has shown zero interest in wanting to fight Khan. He says that Khan isn’t on his radar screen.
It’s hard not to blame Hatton for not being eager to fight Amir, because Khan isn’t a big star in the United States and Hatton, who probably only has one or two fights left him in, wants an established star for his next fight, not someone who is trying to make a name for himself in the U.S. like Khan. So even if Khan is saying that he’s not interested in Hatton, the feelings appear to be mutual for Hatton at this point.
But as far as Hatton following Khan’s advice of retiring, I doubt he’s going to be doing that until he fights one or two more times. He’s not going to listen to anyone telling him what to do. You can’t blame Hatton for wanting to go out on a high note by fighting a couple more bouts. Hatton was destroyed in his last fight by Manny Pacquiao in a 2nd round knockout last May, and he wants to erase the memory of that fight by taking on a couple of good fighters that are well known.
Juan Manuel Marquez is one fighter that Hatton is considering, among others. Marquez is also being considered by Khan as a potential next opponent, as well as former IBF light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi. Khan might be better off taking on WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana next, because this is a fight that many boxing fans want to see. By choosing to avoid Maidana in the near future, it gives some fans the impression that Khan is trying to avoid the big puncher.
Hatton would be better off facing a fighter that comes right at him rather than someone like Khan, who is more of a hit and run type fighter since last year. Khan has always been a fighter that circles the ring picking out points where he throws fast combinations and then gets away quickly. However, Roach has changed his style of fighting to the point where Khan mainly jabs and throws short combinations. That’s not a style that Hatton would likely do well against because he would have to chase Khan around the ring to land. Hatton would eventually catch up to Khan, but unless he landed something really big on Khan’s chin, he could end up getting out-boxed by the taller Khan.
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