Former world champion Ricky Hatton is hoping that his close friend, Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs), is able to recover from his last disastrous defeat in the ring.

Khan has been out of the ring since getting knocked out cold, at a catch-weight of 155-pounds, by Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in May of 2016 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

His return has finally been set, for April 21, against Phil Lo Greco at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.

Back in 2009, Hatton suffered a brutal knockout in the second round of his fight with Manny Pacquiao. He announced his retirement afterwards.

Three years later, Hatton got that itch again and returned to the ring - and he was once again knocked, this time by Vyacheslav Senchenko. Hatton retired once again, this time for good.

Khan has suffered three bad knockouts in his career, against Briedis Prescott, Danny Garcia and Canelo. He's also been seriously hurt and/or knocked down in several fights.

"I hope Khan can return to the top. Amir is my friend. When I got knocked out by Manny Pacquiao that was a horrendous knockout," Hatton told Sky Sports.

"But when I look at Amir, he's had three bad knockouts and sometimes you worry can you come back from three of them. It's hard enough to come back from one horrendous knockout but he's had three.

"He's not fought for a while, and he went up a weight against Canelo, and gave a good account of himself when he was beaten, but I've got my fingers crossed for him.

"As a friend you don't want to see him get hurt. I hope he comes back and does the business. I made my comeback to see if I've still got it and I obviously haven't. I've been able to retire happily since that and I've become a better trainer since. My dream is to bring the next Ricky Hatton through that can make the country proud like I hope I did."