By Sean McDaniel: Welterweight contender Matthew Hatton (41-5-2, 16 KO’s) is hoping he meets up with Amir Khan when he moves up to the welterweight division in the future and Hatton is one of the champions. It sounds like a pipe dream on Hatton’s part, because he’s not a champion at this time and would have to knocked off someone like World Boxing Association (WBA) welterweight champ Vyacheslav Senchenko to pick up a title for a Khan-Hatton fight to take place.

Hatton said this to the blackpoolgazette.co.uk: “There is talk of Khan coming up to welterweight, and if I am holding one of the world titles at welterweight, it would be an obvious fight to make.”

It would be an obvious fight in a perfect world, but in the real world, Hatton’s chances of winning a world title are very, very slim at this point. The problem here is that he’s not even ranked in the top 15 by the WBA, which is where Senchenko holds the title. Hatton also isn’t ranked in the top 15 by the IBF, where the other vulnerable welterweight champion Jan Zaveck is. Hatton is ranked No.10 by the World Boxing Council (WBC), but he’ll never beat the current champion Victor Ortiz and he certainly won’t beat Floyd Mayweather Jr if he defeats Ortiz next month on September 17th.

Hatton fights Andrei Abramenka (15-0-2, 3 KO’s) for the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) International welterweight title on August 19th at the Tower Circus, Blackpool, Lancashire, UK. I don’t think Khan would be interested in fighting Hatton for this obscure title. Hatton will probably win this fight, but isn’t saying much because Abramenka is an unknown fighter with no victories over 1st tier opposition. It’s kind of a waste of a fight for Hatton, because fighting obscure opposition like this won’t do much for him.