By Edward Chaykovsky

Former world champion Junior Witter is still aching over the fact that he never stepped in the ring with his career rival, Ricky Hatton.

During their prime runs, a Hatton vs. Witter showdown was the biggest fight to be made in the UK and eventually there was even interest from the American networks to televise the fight.

But it never happened, for one reason or another, as Witter and Hatton were never on the same page with respect to anything. Both boxers blame the other for the fight not taking place.

Hatton and Witter both won world titles, had high profile fights, but there will always be some unfinished business because they never faced each other.

"Yes, it is obviously, it's one fight that I really wanted to happen," Witter told Sky Sports. "It would have proved a lot of things to a lot of people. That's a grudge match that just hasn't died and needs to be laid to rest. It's a fight that should happen and could have happened already. For me, the Hatton fight was there for years. It wasn't there for a couple of years, it was there for over a decade."

"I was completely up against it, in that respect, but the fight could have been made. He said he wanted it and at one point, I believe he wanted it. After the [Jon] Thaxton fight, he wanted the fight, I wanted the fight, they talked him out of it. Then he got into position where he was in control of his own career and basically no one but him decided that he didn't want that fight."

Witter comes from the same Ingle family gym in Sheffield as IBF welterweight world champion Kell Brook.

Witter does not want to see Brook and Amir Khan follow the same playbook as the failed Hatton encounter.

Brook appears to be heading in the direction of a mandatory fight against Errol Spence, and Khan wants a tuneup fight before focusing on a major fight.

"If that fight's there, take it 100 percent," Witter said. "I think that fight can happen for the simple reason - they both think they can win. Everybody has got their own personal opinion, why he's going to win because of his speed, power, accuracy.

"There's all that debate, but both fighters genuinely believe they are better than the other. They are in a position where they are both coming off a loss, they both officially got stopped, at a weight they shouldn't have been at. They have gone down to their previous fighting weight.

"I think 147[lbs] will suit Khan more than it will Kell. I think Khan will make it easier than Kell, not that he's going to make it easy. If they can get that sorted, 100 percent come back to welterweight. It's time for them two to get it on."