By Sean McDaniel: Instead of taking on World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) and making countless millions for both him and Khan, former light welterweight and welterweight champion Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO’s) says he wants to promote Khan. Hatton, who hasn’t fought since being destroyed in two brutal rounds last year in May by Manny Pacquiao, is now a fledgling promoter and having a big named fighter like Khan to promote would likely really help Hatton’s business.
Still young at only 31, Hatton has seemingly lost interest in competing after his devastating knockout loss to Pacquiao. In an article at the Manchestereveningnews.com, Hatton says “I am sure Amir will want to fight in Las Vegas. It is a tremendous buzz seeing your name in lights on the famous strip. However, my advice would be to have a big fight in England this summer. Of all the great nights I have had, fighting in front of 58,000 people at the City of Manchester Stadium a couple of years ago is something I’m immensely proud of and will always have a special place in my heart. There will be a lot of paper talk of Amir fighting myself, but I would much prefer to promote him and an certain with my help he can become a the big star that his talent deserves.”
Khan is now being promoted by Golden Boy Promotions in the United States, which is where he hopes to become a big star someday. The big money is in the U.S. and if Khan were to continue to fight exclusively in the UK, he would be limited to only that market. By fighting in the U.S, he’ll have wider appeal because his fights would be shown throughout the states and likely Canada as well. However, Khan is already planning on fighting in England in the summer, so Hatton’s advice is needless on that point. Whether Hatton could help or hurt Khan’s career is debatable. I imagine he could make him a bigger star in the UK, but is that what Khan wants? If he spends his entire career fighting in the UK, he won’t likely draw flies when he eventually comes to the United States to fight one of the bigger stars. It seems like a bad idea.
Hatton says he’s back in training but not for boxing. He’s doing it for football, a sport that he likes. It would certainly be great if Hatton were to trim off the weight that he’s put on since he stopped fight but it’s not likely to happen any time soon. Even with appealing opponents like Khan, Juan Manuel Marquez and Michael Katsidis available to fightHatton, he just is not interested for some reason. These are winnable fights for Hatton if he were to get his interest in boxing back and take off the weight, but he just doesn’t want it right now.
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