Former world junior welterweight champion Ricky "Hitman" Hatton has been rumored to be coming back to boxing in 2010, and while it does appear likely he'll take at least one more fight, he'll make it official one way or the other in February.
Ricky Hatton will announce in February whether or not he plans to return to the ring, a spokesman said today , adding, "but Amir Khan is not on his radar at the moment".
The fight that has suddenly become the one British boxing wants, however, after Khan's 76-second blow-out of Dmitriy Salita on Saturday night in defence of his WBA light-welterweight title, will continue to generate speculation until Hatton makes his decision. "Nothing has been decided one way or another," Hatton's PR man, Paul Speak, said.
The Hatton side is downplaying a Khan fight, but Freddie Roach and Khan himself are talking about it a lot. Roach probably doesn't think Hatton can touch his guy -- Khan is younger, taller, longer, far faster, and pretty strong.
Khan says they're friends, but obviously he's willing to take what would be a massive money fight in the UK:
Just two days after defeating New Yorker Dimitriy Salita in his first defence of the title, Khan says he would like to face the Mancunian: "A lot of people want to see the Ricky Hatton fight. We're good friends. I think there's a possibility for that fight to happen. In boxing nowadays any fight is possible."
The Daily Mail says that Juan Manuel Marquez remains the leading candidate for a Hatton return. We know Marquez wants it. It's probably his biggest money fight, and at 36, he might be more concerned with making sure he's got his retirement secure. His legacy is fine.
But if Hatton comes back, don't be fooled into thinking it will just be for one fight, particularly if he were to beat Marquez. At that point, the money in a Hatton-Khan fight could be such that he'd be insane to not make it happen.