By William Mackay: After years of being negative to the idea of facing friend Ricky Hatton, former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-3, 18 KO’s) is suddenly starting to show some interest in fighting him and realizes that the two of them could make a great deal of money if they were to fight in the UK in front of thousands of fans.

Khan said to the Dailystar.co.uk about a fight agaisnt the 33-year-old Hatton “I wouldn’t say no to it.”

There it is. Khan is open to the fight taking place if possible. However, before this blockbuster fight can happen, Hatton will have to pick up at least a two to three wins over top level opposition to show the British boxing public that he still has his skills intact after a three year absence from the ring after retiring in 2009 and staying out of action until now. If Hatton can’t beat his November 24th opponent former WBA World welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko or if Hatton looks poor in winning that fight, then it might make it difficult to put together a Khan-Hatton fight under those circumstances.

Obviously it would still be possible because both Khan and Hatton have large fan bases that follow them at home in the UK, whether they win or lose, and the same fans would still show up in large enough numbers for Khan and Hatton to still make a killing. However, the pay per view money won’t be as good if Hatton doesn’t prove that he’s still a world class fighter against Senchenko and whoever comes after that fight. Khan too has a lot to prove before a Hatton-Khan mega fight can be put together.

Khan has to take care of the small lightweight opponent Carlos Molina that has been picked out from the lightweight division for Khan to look good against in his next fight on December 15th. Khan can’t go life and death with a little lightweight with no power like Molina. And if Khan loses to Molina, then you can figure that Hatton won’t be as eager to fight him after that.

Khan HAS TO beat Molina and he needs to look good in the process. Khan will likely have to fight one or two guys beyond the Molina fight before him and Hatton are ready to meet up in the ring. I wouldn’t expect Golden Boy Promotions to put Khan in with anyone actually good. Khan is being rebuilt once again, and this means Golden Boy will probably use up a year of Khan’s career trying to do this. You can expect Khan to fight a couple of weak punching light welterweights next year and then possibly Hatton at the end of the year if everything goes right.

Golden Boy probably will keep Khan away from the best fighters in the light welterweight division like Lucas Matthysse, Mike Alvarado and Danny Garcia. I can see Khan being put back in with Lamont Peterson next year if Peterson still has the IBF title in his possession. It would be a test of Khan to see if he can beat Peterson, who can’t punch, without going to pieces from the pressure that he’s put under by him.