Should Juan Manuel Marquez upset Floyd Mayweather Jr. on September 19, he could find himself fielding an offer from Ricky Hatton. (via www.braggingrightscorner.com)

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Robert Morales learned from Golden Boy's Eric Gomez this week that Ricky Hatton still has serious interest in Juan Manuel Marquez as an opponent should he return to boxing. Gomez also said that Hatton has told Richard Schaefer that if he does return, he wants to do so with a big fight, which doesn't match the type of names that have been mentioned in rumor for a supposed November Hatton return (Steve Forbes and Vyacheslav Senchenko).

Any possible Marquez-Hatton fight would hinge upon Marquez beating Floyd Mayweather Jr. on September 19. Gomez also said Marquez has desired a fight with Hatton for about a year now.

As for Hatton being knocked out in two of his last four fights, Gomez isn't too worried about it:

"I know that many fighters have been knocked out cold, and they come back and they win titles. So you never know. Amir Khan, you have guys like Arturo Gatti. How many times did he get knocked out?"

The answer, for the record, is five. Gatti was stopped five times inside the distance, although twice his corner threw in the towel (Mayweather, Oscar) and once the fight was stopped on a cut (Angel Manfredy). Only Carlos Baldomir and Alfonso Gomez, in Gatti's last two fights, really "knocked him out."

Taking this both at face value and as an absolutely hypothetical scenario, I think you have to admire Hatton's guts. A Marquez win over Mayweather could have a lot of people calling Marquez the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world, no matter what happens in Cotto-Pacquiao. And that would mean that Hatton would again be trying to knock that guy off his perch, which is really something.

Say Marquez and Pacquiao both won. The obvious biggest money idea would be to do Marquez-Pacquiao III, but "obvious" and "what happens in boxing" don't always go hand-in-hand. Marquez-Hatton would surely be a money fight, though I doubt you could really sell it on American PPV after what happened to Ricky against Manny, and to a lesser extent against Floyd. It could be one hell of an HBO World Championship Boxing headliner, though.

Right now it's all just talk, but it's fun to think about.