BUKOD kay Hall of Famer Oscar dela Hoya, nadagdagan ang pabor kay Briton Amir Khan na tatalunin si eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao sa katauhan ng kanyang trainer na dati ring world boxing champion na si Virgil Hunter.

Kung tutol si Hunter nang umakyat si Khan ng dalawang dibisyon para hamunin si ex-WBC middleweight champion Saul Canelo Alvarez noong nakaraang taon via 6th round knockout, naniniwala siyang malaki ang tsansa ngayon ni Khan.

“He knows Manny,” sabi ni Hunter sa BoxingScene.com. “They’ve sparred a lot of rounds [at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club]. And if Amir’s right, he’ll be a tough out for anybody. But Manny is still formidable. It’s a 50-50 fight at this point, I believe. Manny still can fight and he still can punch.”

Ngunit, walang bilib ang dating No. 1 boxer ng United Kingdom na si ex-IBO super lightweight champion Ricky Hatton na may tsansa si Khan kay Pacquiao matapos matalo kina WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia ng United States via 4th round technical knockout noong 2012 at Alvarez nitong 2016.

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Natalo si Hatton kay Pacquiao via 2nd round knockout noong 2009 bago tuluyang nagretiro noong 2012 nang talunin ni dating WBA welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko ng Ukraine via 9th round TKO.

“Manny has seen better days but I think he might still have a bit too much for him [Khan],” sabi Hatton . “I hope I am wrong but Amir is coming off a heavy knockout defeat and that’s his third heavy knock out. There are only so many times you can come back from [the] brutal knockouts Amir has had.” (Gilbert Espeña)