One of the most burning questions in professional sport is who will be Floyd Mayweather Jnr’s next opponent.

It reflects the extent to which the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world now dominates professional boxing. Indeed the hype, excitement and anticipation surrounding a Mayweather fight easily dwarves every other fight at any weight in the sport.

One of the names being touted as the next opponent to try and hand the current pound-for-pound champion his first ever professional defeat is Britain’s own Amir Khan, based on the Bolton former world champion’s undoubted hand speed and aggression, which various commentators feel would give Mayweather the sort of test he’s lacked in recent fights.

There’s also the fact that Khan has attained a significant following, certainly in Britain, which in conjunction with his explosive style makes him a viable candidate.

Khan’s detractors, on the other hand, assert that based on his recent performances the 2004 Olympic silver medallist doesn’t deserve to fight Mayweather.

Quite rightly, they point to a more deserving candidate in the shape of Danny Garcia, the current WBC, WBA and Ring Magazine world champion. Garcia’s most recent performances against Zab Judah and Lucas Matthysse cemented his bona fides as an elite level fighter.

He also took Khan out with a left hook when they met in the ring back in 2012 to take Khan’s WBC belt. Garcia also has his father, Angel, on his side — a promoter’s and TV network’s dream due to his outrageous personality and pre-fight antics.

Speaking of a sizeable fan base, Britain’s most popular ever world champion, Ricky Hatton, recently voiced his support for Khan to fight Mayweather next.

Since losing his ill-fated comeback fight against Ukraine’s Vyacheslav Senchenko last year, Hatton has been focused on working behind the scenes managing, promoting and training his own stable of fighters.

In his recently published autobiography — War And Peace — the fighter known as The Hitman describes his struggles both in and out of the ring during one of the most exciting and explosive careers of any British fighter.

The breach with long-time trainer Billy Graham and the disastrous training camp and preparations prior to the Manny Pacquiao fight are laid bare. Perhaps most poignant of all, Hatton also describes his well-publicised breakdown in his relationship with his parents.

What can never be taken away from Hatton is that he gave Mayweather one of his toughest contests when they fought in 2007.

For the first four or five rounds, Hatton had Mayweather on the back foot, struggling to adjust to his aggressive come-forward style in which he utilised superb head movement and footwork to change the angle of attack, thus making him hard to tag on the way in.

Unfortunately Ricky wasn’t just up against Mayweather in Vegas that night — he also had to contend with a referee in the shape of Joe Cortez, who would not allow him to work inside.

Then, after the fifth round, beginning to tire, his head movement went and he began coming forward in straight lines, at which point Mayweather asserted his dominance on the way to a KO in the 10th.

Tonight Hatton will be ringside at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield to see how Sheffield’s Kell Brook deals with the man who ended his career, the aforementioned Senchenko.

The former WBA welterweight champion has only lost once in 35 contests and will be arriving in Britain no doubt confident after his previous victory over Hatton that he can defeat another homegrown star in his own backyard.

Despite being unbeaten in 30 fights Brook and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, know that this is a make-or-break fight. The winner is guaranteed a crack at the IBF title and Brook has articulated in the lead-up that an added motivation is meting out revenge for the tall Ukrainian’s stoppage of The Hitman.

The Sheffield born and based fighter said: “I don’t need any motivation for this fight. Ricky was a hero to us all and wanted to succeed in his comeback, but Senchenko ruined all that.”

He went on: “We all wanted Ricky to come out on top but it wasn’t to be. Now I have the chance to do something about it.”  

A sell-out crowd in Sheffield, along with a massive domestic television audience watching at home, will be hoping he does exactly that.