Doghouse Boxing - Dog Pound

Amir Khan considers a battle of Britain super-fight with Ricky Hatton

• It would be 'bigger than Haye-Chisora', says Khan
• But first he wants a rematch with Danny Garcia


Jamie Jackson, guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19 July 2012 22.59 BST


Amir Khan has not ruled out the prospect of a blockbuster British super-fight with Ricky Hatton. The boxer believes such a contest would be "bigger" than last Saturday's David Haye-Dereck Chisora bout, though the 25-year-old is intent first on a rematch with Danny Garcia in December after his defeat at the weekend. While Hatton, the former light-welterweight and welterweight world champion, is thought to be considering a comeback, he might also consider the intriguing option of training Khan.

Regarding a potential match with Hatton, Khan said: "I don't think Ricky will want to fight us. I try to avoid the Ricky fight but you never know. It'd be a huge British fight and I don't think we've had a British fight like that. It would be bigger than the Dereck and David fight but who knows? For the moment I'm more focused on the Garcia fight because what burns me is that you know you made a mistake and you know what mistake you made."

After Garcia's fourth-round knockout of Khan in Las Vegas that won his WBA light-welterweight belt the Philadelphian signalled he would not want a rematch. But Khan believes Golden Boy, which promotes both of them, may find a way to make it happen. Khan said: "I know he doesn't want to but Golden Boy have shown there is a way of trapping you in there and getting you that fight by cornering you. I didn't want to fight [Marcos] Maidana [in 2010] that time but in a way I was trapped in a corner: I thought to myself, 'I never want to give up my titles so I will take the fight' because I was cornered.

"So the same thing, [if] he is in the corner there, he'll have to take the fight. No fighter likes to vacate titles so, if Garcia doesn't want to fight me, he might have to vacate the titles which I think is very bad. Let's see what happens."

Though Hatton is retired, he has recently begun gym work, with it being understood some exercises are being undertaken that would usually only be part of his pre-fight routine. He has not fought since losing to Manny Pacquiao, who is also trained by Khan's coach, Freddie Roach.

Though Hatton's spokesman would not be drawn regarding a potential comeback, he did say that the 33-year-old is now a coach and would not be averse to considering training Khan, who has already decided to hire a defensive coach and over the coming weeks will consider whether to stay with Roach.

"A lot of people just see Hatton the boxer as opposed to Hatton the trainer and, bearing in mind he's just got his first European champion in Sergey Rabchenko and he's only been at it for six months and he's got a European champion already, who knows?" Hatton's spokesman said.

Khan lost to Garcia after being drawn into a slug-out with the Philadelphian.

If he were to meet Garcia again, he said he would do things differently. "I'd just take my time. One thing about me is that my training, my sparring, is so fast and I'm too explosive for my own good and [have] too much heart," Khan said. "I would take a step back and just start boxing and seeing things more instead of rushing and taking loads of shots. Why fight like an amateur? It was in the back of my mind that I shouldn't do this but then I thought its working for me [so far] so I'm going to stick to it."

hatton training khan.

that sounds better.

 hitman_hatton1, on 19 July 2012 - 05:20 PM, said:

Oh sure, Hatton had a great defence . He ate shots from everybody, thats why hes got a face like a melted welly boot.

Khan needs a defensive master to teach him, maybe Ingle.

 watson748, on 19 July 2012 - 06:36 PM, said:

The Nazim Richardson rumour is something that Khan shoud proceed with IMO. Naz and Roach worked together with Hopkins fora few fights so it could be a good fit.
If not he shoud give Manny Stewart or Roger Mayweather a call. Ricky training him is a non possibility.

 Manchester Hitman, on 19 July 2012 - 08:57 PM, said:

Hopkins was coming off the big win against Tarver when he went from Nazim to the "dream team" corner for Winky. For a guy who doesn't like to share his money, he made a puzzling move there.

Manny Steward would be my first choice,  if not him,  then Naz would be my second choice.  What Khan needs is someone to calm him the fuck down.  Roach has been training Pac who is a buzz saw but has the chin to go with that style.  Khan obviously needs a different approach.  Khan has the hand speed that some counter punchers would die for.  If he forgot about those amateur flurries he does which would be scoring points in the amateurs all day long,  different ball game in the pros.  I think it would be more use to Khan to land 10 meaningful shots with force behind it on the counter then get the fuck out of there,  than throwing a 100 flurry punches a round and leaving himself open to get cracked and those flurries don't mean shit then when he ends up wobbled or knocked the fuck out.  

More faints to,  half the time you can keep an opponent off you by throwing a faint,  they also create openings.  I've noticed with Khan he's got his foot on the gas pedal permanently,  not a lot of thought behind what he's doing which is why he makes mistakes.  I honestly don't know if he's got the intelligence to make the adjustments and I personally hope he doesn't make them.  One thing you get with Khan is excitement and it's like what Gomez said after his fight with Khan...  he said something like,  " he has got world class talent,  but he has world class flaws to ".  Turns out he was bob on.

 Glax0r, on 19 July 2012 - 05:14 PM, said:

Same old Khan.  

I respect the fact that Khan's huge ego is undiminished by knockout losses.

 BoxingFan, on 20 July 2012 - 01:11 AM, said:

Got to admit though 140 is tougher than 168 and Khan has consistently fought better opposition than Froch.  

 ROCKYMARSHMELLOW, on 20 July 2012 - 05:57 AM, said:

Of this there is no doubt.

On the same note, I rank Khan up there with Muhammad Ali on the politicl influence and impact on society stakes.

 BoxingFan, on 20 July 2012 - 06:02 AM, said:

Oh yes,  Khan's stance on the Maastricht treaty was incredibly impressive I must say so.

 watson748, on 19 July 2012 - 06:36 PM, said:

just cos hatton's own defence weren't terrific has no baring on what he can offer khan as a trainer.

what a dumb f*cking rich mug u are.

 hitman_hatton1, on 20 July 2012 - 09:02 AM, said:

Why are you so obsessed by Watson's money?

There are enough reasons why that guy is a bell-end, you don't need to guess at his back balance just to find reasons to insult him.

Going back to Hatton fighting again, there are some pics floating around with him looking like he's weighing roughly 154lb - his face is chiseled
To his high check bones like back in the day..looked very old though.....come on Hitman