Ricky Hatton knows what it’s like to be involved in major fights and come up short only at the very top-level. Ahead of tonight’s boxing in Birmingham ‘The Hitman’ has expressed serious concerns for boxer Amir Khan.

Hatton’s two (main) defeats in his career only came to the two best boxers of their entire generation Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

The latter was a crippling knockout that sent Hatton into depression outside the ring. A state of being he has thankfully recovered from these days.

But he knows all too well about how hard it is to try to keep coming back again and again.

Particularly after a big knockout defeat.

Speaking to The Daily Star, Hatton said:

“And as a friend I was worried, not for his mental health, because mentally he needs to do this or he’s going to sit on his couch in years pondering. But his physical health, I’m thinking how many times can he come back from crushing KO’s?”

Khan has suffered big knockout losses over the years and has taken breaks from the sport in between comebacks.

He appears to be very focused and enjoying his boxing again and with his personal life also balanced, at 31 years of age, it’s hard to see why he wouldn’t carry on at this stage.

If he were to suffer one more big knockout defeat however there could be serious implications long-term to his health.

Particularly when you think back to the big knockouts his body has already suffered against Prescott, Garcia and Canelo.