The boxing season is nearly upon us and fans are very intrigued to see how Amir Khan handles his first comeback fight against Phil Lo Greco.

Khan has been absent from the sport ever since his devastating knockout at the hands of Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez back in back in 2016.

Many thought it was the end of his professional career, despite the fact he was offering the likes of Floyd Mayweather out on Twitter during his 'sabbatical'.

Now, he is back, signed up with Eddie Hearn's Matchroom, with Khan targeting potential fights against Kell Brook and Manny Pacquiao in the near future.

However, some have been against Khan's comeback, with former British fighter Ricky Hatton one of the biggest names behind calls for him to simply retire.

HATTON'S PLEA TO KHAN

"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.”

KHAN NOT HAVING ANY OF IT

It has taken a while for Khan to respond to Hatton's comments but now he has and he's certainly not letting his close friend deter him from making a successful comeback.

"Ricky is coming from there because a lot has happened in my life in the last couple of years, so he maybe thought I should just call it a day," Khan said.

"But I've surpassed that now so it's now time to put all that behind me and move forward. I always said from day one, I am going to be the one that walks away from boxing. I am not going to let boxing retire me, I will retire from boxing.

"I might wake up one morning and think 'you know what, I don't want to do this anymore', but at the moment I am waking up every morning wanting to be a champion again."

You certainly have to admire his fighting spirit.