CARL FROCH, the IBF super-middleweight champion, has claimed he would retire if he were in Amir Khan's position.
Khan suffered his second consecutive defeat in Las Vegas on Saturday night as Danny Garcia knocked him down three times in their WBA/WBC light-welterweight unification bout, which was stopped in round four.
After a strong start, Khan was out-punched in an open fight as the 25-year-old lost for the third time in his career. While Garcia is an undefeated world champion, he was the underdog at the weekend, as were Breidis Prescott and Lamont Petersen when they beat Khan.
The brutal nature of this latest loss illustrates the dangerous combination of a crowd-pleasing, open style and an apparently poor punch resistance for Khan.
"I would retire if that happened to me," said Froch, on Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek programme.
"Why? Because I am not in this sport to get beaten, knocked out, or outclassed."
Froch is 10 years older than Khan and his two career defeats, both on points, came during the elite pay-per-view Super Six series.
"It's a personal decision whether or not you retire, but to get stopped in the fourth round and to be previously knocked out, it's just very, very damaging.
Khan's promoter Richard Schaefer, was certainly not contemplating retirement, however. He said: "He's a warrior and sometimes his balls are too big for his own good. He is an exciting fighter who every fan wants to see and I know that people want Amir Khan back because of that."
Khan was taken to hospital for routine scans after the fight but his trainer, Freddie Roach, was hopeful of a rematch.
"Amir said he will be back and, hopefully, Danny Garcia will come to England and maybe fight us over there," said Roach.
Garcia said: "It's up to my team, but he gave me the opportunity, I'll give him the opportunity."
However, his outspoken father cut his son off, saying: "He [Khan] disrespected Danny when he took him as an opponent. He thought he was a pushover. We're not giving him a rematch."
n Vitali Klitschko is unlikely to face David Haye due to his political commitments, according to the Ukrainian's manager Bernd Boente, writes Duncan Bech.
Haye flattened Dereck Chisora inside five rounds at Upton Park and claimed Klitschko, who faces Manuel Charr on September 8, will avoid him as a result.
Boente said: "We offered Haye the fight in September but he chose to fight Chisora.
"We had a contract ready for Haye, had booked an arena, but he turned us down.
"After fighting Charr, Vitali goes on the campaign trail for parliamentary election in the Ukraine. Should he be elected, then he probably will stop boxing. He wants to fight for democracy."
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