HATTON HOPES PAL KHAN DO IT

RICKY HATTON fears for Amir Khan’s health as the Bolton banger prepares to climb back into the ring for the first time in two years.

Khan (below), whose last outing ended in a devastating knockout by Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in May 2016, takes on Canadian Phil Lo Greco at Liverpool’s Echo Arena.

And Hatton said: “I hope Amir can get back to the top, but he has just been inactive for so long.

“He’s clean living, and if you’re living a healthy life, if you’re in the gym, you can come back with a bang and I hope he does.

“But when I look back at my knockout against Manny Pacquiao, those type of knockouts are horrific and you’ve only got one of those in your career sometimes.

“Amir has had three — Breidis Prescott, Danny Garcia and Saul Alvarez — and I just worry for him as a boxer and a friend. I wonder how many times can he keep coming back from that.”

Hatton understands why Khan, 31, is compelled to give it one last shot after he came out of retirement following his defeat by Pacquiao to take on Vyacheslav Senchenko.

Hatton, 39, added: “I had to make my comeback because it would have driven me insane if I hadn’t.

“I didn’t want to be sitting on my couch six years later wishing I’d done it.” Khan has signed a three-fight deal with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom stable and believes he can get a world title fight by the third, if not the second outing.

Hatton added: “Three fights might be sensible. Amir has had a lot of hard fights, a lot of heavy knockouts, and I don’t want to see him having six or seven fights before a shot at a world title.”