The popularity of Amir Khan could have been dented by a growing rivalry with Ricky Hatton, Frank Warren, Khan’s promoter, believes.

Khan, one of only two British world champions, makes the first defence of his WBA light-welterweight title, a belt Hatton once held, against Dmitriy Salita at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle, on December 5.

But the former Olympic silver medal-winner, 22, has been getting mixed receptions since his one-round loss to Breidis Prescott last year and Warren believes those who have booed Khan could have done it more out of loyalty to Hatton than as a backlash against Khan.

“There have been some boos, but I think that could be to do with the Hatton thing,” Warren said. “We’ve been popular wherever we have been with him. Ticket sales have been good in Newcastle, we have sold 7,000 of the 10,000 tickets already.”

Warren has been keen to play down the possibility of a match between Khan and Hatton, insisting that the Mancunian should retire after his two-round knockout defeat by Manny Pacquiao last May. Hatton says that he has not made up his mind about whether he will return, although the prospect of should he face Khan or not — the two are friends — is unlikely to be keeping him up at nights.

“We’ve always tried to play down the hype surrounding Amir and when people were talking about world titles, I was saying he had to learn,” Warren said. “The Prescott fight was just a bad match, I shouldn’t have made it, but the trainer wanted it and the connections wanted it. It was a big mistake.

“But how he has come back to win a world title eight months and three fights later is exceptional. That sort of thing hasn’t been done by a British boxer and people forget how few fights [22] he has had in his career.”

Khan has been reunited with Freddie Roach, his American coach, this week after Roach missed the first few weeks of Khan’s training camp in Los Angeles as he was training Manny Pacquiao in the Philippines. Warren believes the United States move, made after the Prescott loss, has been a huge benefit for Khan.

“One of the things it did was get him out of Bolton, where he was being pulled every which way by his mates and the personal appearances he was making,” Warren said. “Now he can just concentrate on what he does best, which is boxing.

“And he’s listened to Freddie. He has stopped dropping his hands, jumping in like he used to do and fighting with his heart. The improvement is there for all to see.”

Salita is a New Yorker who was born in Ukraine and Warren believes he will present a stern challenge. “It’s a tough defence and I think it will make for an exciting fight,” Warren said. “But I fancy Amir to knock him out.”