Amir Khan must choose between Kell Brook and Danny Garcia
After being knocked out by Canelo Alvarez, the fighter has to pick his next opponent carefully
British boxer Amir Khan has dismissed thoughts of retirement after he was beaten by Mexican Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas at the weekend.
Khan suffered the fourth defeat of his professional career after stepping up two weight divisions to fight "one of the most fearsome fighters on the planet", says Ben Dirs of the BBC.
Middleweight champion Alvarez, who had a 15lb weight advantage, won with a huge punch in the sixth round, ending the fight as Khan was taken to hospital before being given a clean bill of health.
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Few people had expected the Bolton fighter to win, says Dirs, but he was "brave beyond belief and should not be sneered at".
However, he must now decide his next move. "Having spent the past two years being teased into thinking he was going to fight first Floyd Mayweather, then Manny Pacquiao, and consequently wishing some of the best years of his career away, this was maybe Khan's last pitch for greatness," adds Dirs.
"The good news for Khan, and British fight fans, is he can walk straight into a match with Kell Brook, the IBF welterweight champion and his bitter cross-Pennine rival."
Khan must "lower his poundage but not his sights", says Jeff Powell of the Daily Mail, who predicts a "world welterweight title revenge match for an earlier KO against undefeated Danny Garcia".
Garcia looks the most likely opponent, agrees Kevin Mitchell of The Guardian, partly because Khan and Brook "have a deep and long-running animus to settle first".
What is clear after his latest bout is that Khan only has "one or maybe a handful of fights left" and "has cause to wonder how much more his vulnerable chin and outsized heart can take in this sport".
He was brave to take the fight against Alvarez, says Gareth A Davies of the Daily Telegraph, but it may have been a costly gamble.
"Khan can walk away with his head held high, but the lasting effects on him and his punch resistance will only be known when he boxes again," he warns.
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