Amir Khan has gone on record recently to say that he thinks fellow Brit Ricky Hatton should retire. Conveniently he also wants to face the opponent Hatton looked set to be facing next, Juan Manuel Marquez.
Coincidence? Probably not, and Khan trying to snatch Hatton’s opponent from under his nose is unlikely to convince the Mancunian to retire now rather than attempting another return to the ring.
On many lists including industry leaders such as boxrec, Marquez is still the number one lightweight in the world, but despite the challengers lining up to try to knock him from his pedestal, perhaps his greater challenges lie at welterweight and light welter.
Clearly after seeing the Floyd Mayweather fight, there are fighters out there who think Marquez is a manageable opponent, and a good scalp to add to their records.
One thing that they haven’t factored into this though is that they don’t have the defensive boxing skills of Floyd Mayweather, and Marquez will probably turn out to be a much tougher fight for most welterweights than people are giving him credit for.
Of the available opponents for Marquez now, it makes sense to simply pick the biggest payday. After all he isn’t looking for titles above lightweight particularly, and the size difference would become a problem against some opponents. Clearly both Khan and Hatton think that they can beat Marquez, so from his perspective the bigger fight is the on to take.
Both fighters can sell well in Britain, but Hatton is still even now in a different league to Khan when it comes to popularity. Like Oscar De La Hoya, Hatton is one of those fighters who people will pay to see no matter who he faces and how well he does.
For the boxing purists, Khan is the fight that they will want because Hatton is looking for a last win while Khan needs to be tested against fighters like Marquez who will come at him all night.
As to which he has the better chance of beating, again its a close one. Khan has the skills and power to batter Marquez all night long, but also has the kind of shaky chin that a counter from Marquez could take advantage of with a single well timed blow.
Hatton is strong and aggressive, and as such ripe for countering, not to mention he’s coming off a big knockout loss to a fellow former lightweight in Manny Pacquiao. The biggest question remains how shop worn Hatton really is or if his last performance was the combination of a perfect Freddie Roach game plan coupled with a poor training camp.
Of course there isn’t any reason why Marquez cant bash in against both Brits so long as he beats the first one. Of course if all else fails he can always go back to being the best lightweight in the world instead.
