By Edward Chaykovsky

The hunt is already on, as fighters are lining up for the opportunity to face WBC/WBA welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26KOs) in September. Mayweather comes off a twelve round unanimous decision win over Manny Pacquiao.

Mayweather has one fight remaining on his Showtime/CBS exclusive fight contract. He claims to be retiring after his next fight, although many expect he will go for win number 50.

The frontrunner to get Mayweather is British superstar and former champion Amir Khan (30-3, 19KOs). Khan first returns to action on May 29th against New Yorker Chris Algieri at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. But a win over Algieri may send him in Mayweather's direction.

Khan's countryman, Ricky Hatton, believes the Bolton man can get the job done if he gets Mayweather in the ring.

"If anyone deserves that kind of pay day it's Amir Khan. He's taken a lot of criticism over the years, mainly because of his chin. But he's been beaten a couple of times, come back and is now performing better than ever. He's also hardly ever in a bad fight, so hats off to him," Hatton told BBC Sport.

"When Amir has got involved, he's been hit on the chin and come unstuck. But in his last two wins, over Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander, he fought the way he should have been fighting all along - stayed disciplined, used his speed and his boxing ability. When he puts all that together, not many can stop him."

"If anyone's going to beat Mayweather, it's Amir. People look at me like I'm an idiot when I say that. But styles make fights and Amir boxing the way he is at the moment is the last thing Floyd needs at this stage of his career."

While Hatton gives Khan a very good chance to get the win, he is very skeptical as to whether or not the undefeated pound-for-pound king is actually going to provide Khan with the opportunity to get in the ring with him.

"Mayweather has got one fight left on his Showtime contract in the United States and needs one more win to equal Rocky Marciano's record of 49 unbeaten fights,  so why would he risk fighting Amir Khan?," Hatton said.

"I'm not saying Amir is better than Floyd, but Amir is perhaps the only person who can match him for speed. The fact that Amir is boxing as well as he is could be the worst thing for making the Mayweather fight."

"Floyd can't choose any Tom, Dick or Harry for that fight in September. But Americans like to see Americans fight each other. The only reason they'd gloss over that is if somebody had a following like I did, which Amir doesn't. And not many Americans are likely to pay to watch him on TV."