Amir Khan Interested in Fight with Ricky Hatton

By Steve Brooks: The unproven sometimes fragile-chinned Amir Khan (20-1, 15 KOs) is reportedly interested in fighting Ricky Hatton. Khan, 22, says “it’s a fight that could happen and what a massive fight it would be in Britain.” Khan has got that right, because the fight would be hugely popular in the UK due to Khan’s large fan base over there and of course because of Hatton’s popularity. There’s been a lot of mention of a possible Khan-Hatton fight since Ricky was stopped by Manny Pacquiao. Initially, it was thought impossible because of the friendship between Khan and Hatton. However, Khan wants the fight and has made it known in recent interviews. It’s now up to Hatton whether he wants to take a risky fight like this coming off a bad knockout loss to Pacquiao..

The one thing that could upset the plans for this fight is if Khan isn’t able to get by his next opponent, World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik, who Khan fights on July 18th at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester. Khan is taking a big step up from the largely C-class opponent that he’s been spoon fed since turning pro.

However, if Khan is able to beat Kotelnik, then that opens up the possibility for a Hatton-Khan bout. Hatton hasn’t revealed what his future plans will be or if he even plans on continuing with his boxing career. Most people feel that Hatton will fight at least one more time.

For this reason, it’s likely that Hatton will want to get the biggest fight that he can before stepping away from the sport for good. Khan appears to be the biggest fight out there for Hatton in terms of money. Hatton could obviously fight much more proven opponents like Timothy Bradley, Kendall Holt or Junior Witter, but each of them would likely be too tough for a fighter like Hatton who is coming off a terrible 2nd round knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao in May. Hatton needs an easier opponent who doesn’t have the chin or the power than Bradley and Holt possess.

Khan has good power and great speed, but his chin has been shown to be his major weakness. If Hatton can land something big against Khan, he can turn it into an early night without having to risk being stretched out on the canvas again.
Khan was destroyed in one of two tough opponents that he was put in with, losing a 1st round knockout to Colombian Breidis Prescott last year.

Khan hasn’t made much of an effort at avenging that defeat for some reason. In his other tough bout, Khan was put in with 35-year-old Marco Antonio Barrera, a fighter that had recently moved up to the lightweight division and seemed not suited for the division. Barrera was cut badly in the 1st and had to fight with blood dripping into his left eye until the fight was stopped in the 5th, giving Khan a victory by a 5th round technical decision.

In looking at Khan’s lack of experience against top level opposition, there’s a good possibility that he will struggle against Kotelnik and not be able to get past him. However, Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach will likely have a good fight strategy for Khan to utilize in the fight that will protect Khan’s glass chin.

If Amir stays on the outside, Kotelnik will have to be satisfied with winning a war of jabs. That’s not a fight that Kotelnik will win, because Amir will flurry on him at least once or twice in every round and will pile up the points.