Boxing:Ricky Hatton will not be rushed into announcing a decision over the identity of his next opponent despite the threat of being stripped of his latest world title by the end of this week.
The International Boxing Federation say Hatton has until Friday to make a commitment to defend his newly-won light-welterweight crown against the winner of Saturday's fight between Naoufel Ben Rabah and Lovemore N'Dou.
Hatton looks almost certain to dump the title he won less than two weeks ago from Juan Urango in Las Vegas for a second time, and pursue a much more meaningful summer super-fight against Jose Luis Castillo back on the Strip.
But Hatton's promoter Dennis Hobson insists all options still remain open - and that despite the existing agreement for the Castillo fight, they are unlikely to finalise their decision before the end of the week.
Hobson told said: "We have got the Castillo fight on the table but there is also the option for Ricky of coming back to Manchester to fight Ben Rabah or N'Dou, then taking on Castillo after that.
"It all comes down to whether Ricky wants to hold onto his title but the IBF have got to give him time to make his mind up. He has just won the title back and they can't hold him to ransom for the sake of a couple of days."
The IBF are keen to press Hatton on the issue because if he does pursue his fight against Castillo, they will then be able to sanction Saturday's Ben Rabah versus N'Dou contest in Australia as for their vacant title.
Hatton first won the IBF 140lbs title from Kostya Tszyu but after one successful defence against Carlos Maussa, he was forced to give it up when he moved up to welterweight to meet Luis Collazo.
However neither Hatton's camp nor his American television paymasters Home Box Office are likely to baulk at the prospect of giving away the belt again, with even a non-title meeting with Castillo an infinitely more preferable option.
Hobson added: "At this stage in Ricky's career the names are bigger than the titles and I know HBO are totally unconcerned about whether a title is on the line in his fight with Castillo or not.
"Obviously when you are making your way up the titles mean more but, at this stage, although we maintain a good relationship with the IBF, the titles can become more of a hindrance than anything else."