LONDON: Britain's Amir Khan has insisted he will return to the light-welterweight division once he's considered the full implications of his defeat by Danny Garcia.
Khan was stopped in the fourth round of a world title unification bout, having suffered three knockdowns, by Garcia in Las Vegas on Saturday.
It was the second stoppage defeat of his professional career and third in all and led to calls for the 25-year-old Englishman to either consider another weight division or retire completely.
However, in a statement issued Monday, Khan said: "I'm going to spend the next few weeks relaxing during Ramadan and recharging my batteries after what was a 16-week training camp for me.
"I'll then sit down with my team to assess the options in front of me.
"Well done to Danny Garcia on his performance, but I promise that I'll bounce back stronger than ever as I look to regain my spot at the top of the 140lb division."
Khan added: "Many fighters down the years have bounced back from defeat to prove their greatness and that's exactly what I intend to do.
"I've never shirked any challenge or refused to fight anyone in my division even though it would have been easy for me to do so."
Khan had earlier dismissed calls from his compatriot Carl Froch, the IBF super-middleweight champion, to retire following his defeat by Garcia.
"Carl's always got his little things to say, I think I'll leave it at that really," Khan told the BBC.
"I'm a young fighter, I'm 25, I'm not talking about retiring, I'm still young and I've got a lot in me," added Khan, who now has a 26-3 record.
"If he wants to retire, he can retire, he's talking about retiring. I'm in a tougher division. I'm fighting better opposition and I'm a bigger name than him, and I think that's what burns him really.
"People are going to say things after this fight, people said things after the (Breidis) Prescott fight (which he lost in 2008), and see how I came back after that. I'll come back stronger, I'm still young, I'm still hungry and I'll come back a lot better and a lot stronger.
"The next fight will be in England, I hope. I'm going to relax for a week, not even think about boxing for a week or so, and then I'm going to leave it for my team to do a great job."
(AFP)