Amir Khan's trainer Freddie Roach expects Ricky Hatton to be “knocking on the door” if the Bolton fighter wins his WBA light-welterweight title bout against Andreas Kotelnik later this month.

The 22-year-old is stepping up a level to take on Kotelnik after beating Marco Antonio Barrera at lightweight in March.

Victory could pave the way for a lucrative all-English showdown between Khan and former world light-welterweight champion Hatton, who has not fought since a brutal knockout defeat to Manny Pacquiao in May.

Trainer Roach seemed to think the fight was a strong possibility and said: “Honestly I'd like to see [Hatton] retire but I think he'll want to go after Amir's title.

“It would be a huge fight. Here in the UK you would sell a lot of tickets and make a lot of money, so why not? I think it would be a great fight.”

Asked if he expected it to happen sooner rather than later, Roach added: “I think it could happen sooner to be honest with you, if we win this title he'll be knocking on our door.”

Khan's fight against Kotelnik was originally due to take place in London late last month, but had to be postponed and moved to Manchester's MEN Arena on July 18 because the Ukrainian required dental surgery following a sparring incident.