Britain's Ricky Hatton is close to making a final decision on whether he will make a comeback to professional boxing.The 31-year-old, who is currently in Australia on a promotional tour, said he was serious about a comeback but needed more time before committing himself.
"I'm going to have a good think about it over Christmas and the New Year," he told reporters on Thursday. "But I'm starting to get the itch."
Hatton, a former welterweight and light welterweight world champion, retired after he was knocked out in the second round by Filipino Manny Pacquiao in May this year.
The Englishman said he was still unhappy at the way he lost that fight and has been hinting for months at a one-off return in the hope of finishing his career on a brighter note.
"The manner in which I ended my defeat is not really the way I would like to bow out," he said.
"I'd like to bow out ... in an absolute war of a fight, a wonderful fight with great sportsmanship."
Hatton said his comeback would depend on the quality of opposition but his preference was for Oscar De La Hoya or Juan Manuel Marquez.
"Those two would be on my hitlist," he said

David Beckham has an option to own a future 20th team in Major League Soccer, the North American league's commissioner said on Sunday.Speaking to reporters at halftime in the title-deciding MLS Cup final, which featured Beckham and L.A. Galaxy against Real Salt Lake, Garber dismissed speculation the England midfielder might be involved in a possible Montreal franchise.
However, Garber for the first time gave details of how Beckham might become an owner of a team in the league.
"We didn't talk about this until recently but David has the option for our 20th team," said Garber.
"That option can't be exercised until after 2011 or after he stops playing so we have got some time to figure that out."
Montreal could become the 19th team in the league following the arrival of Philadelphia next year and Vancouver and Portland in 2011.
Beckham has not given any indication of which city he might choose to create a new team in but has sounded upbeat about the chances of him exercising the option.
"Owning a franchise is something that is definitely possible and something that I'm really thinking about and I think it will happen eventually," Beckham said during his Friday news conference.
Beckham's current deal with the Galaxy runs out at the end of the 2011 season.

Soccer's world governing body FIFA has confirmed that the controversial France v Ireland World Cup playoff will not be replayed.The Irish football association (FAI) appealed to FIFA for a replay after Thierry Henry handled the ball when setting up William Gallas's extra-time equalizer in Wednesday's 1-1 draw in Paris that sent France to the World Cup with a 2-1 aggregate win.
However, as was widely expected, FIFA wasted little time in rejecting the plea.
"FIFA has replied to the request made by the FAI to replay the World Cup play-off match between France and the Republic of Ireland," the body said on its website (http://nl-ff.co.cc/vault/140029/downloads/140029.html) on Friday.
"In the reply, FIFA states that the result of the match cannot be changed and the match cannot be replayed. As is clearly mentioned in the Laws of the Game, during matches, decisions are taken by the referee and these decisions are final."
The FAI said on Thursday that the incident, which dominated news bulletins in Ireland all day as well as being discussed in parliament, had "damaged the integrity of the sport."
The Irish government supported the call for a replay and Prime Minister Brian Cowen said he would discuss the matter with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Brussels.
However, Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni paved the way for disappointment when he told a Thursday news conference it would be impossible to replay the match.
"I cannot ask this because I know it is impossible. When a referee decides, it ends the game for me," he said.
The Italian instead criticized FIFA's late decision to seed the playoff draw and called on the ruling body to scrap extra-time in future playoffs as it handed an advantage to the team drawn at home in the second leg.

The IAAF is continuing to work with South African runner Caster Semenya's representatives and the South African government to resolve her gender case, but cannot confirm any agreement, a spokesman for the governing body told Reuters on Friday.Also unresolved is under what circumstances the 18-year-old would be allowed to compete in the future as a female, spokesman Nick Davies said in an interview ahead of Friday's IAAF Council meeting.
"We are not in the position at the moment to confirm 100 per cent, what was announced yesterday by the South Africans," Davies said.
"We are still discussing and hopefully we will have a resolution soon."
South Africa's sports ministry said in a statement on Thursday the IAAF had agreed to allow the athlete to retain her world women's 800 meters title and gold medal and prize money from August's world championships in Berlin.
But neither Davies nor leaders of the IAAF including president Lamine Diack, vice presidents Sergei Bubka and Robert Hersh nor general secretary Pierre Weiss would confirm the statement on Friday.
"Nothing! Nothing! Nothing," Weiss said.
The IAAF Council was expected to hear a report on the case during its Friday session but take no action.
Neither the South African statement nor the IAAF has said publicly under what circumstances Semenya, who has undergone gender testing after questions of her gender arose, would be allowed to continue to compete as a female.
"She is eligible at the moment," Davies said. "The question is more is there anything that will prevent her competing in the future, and that's exactly what we are trying to resolve."
The South African statement said: "The implications of the scientific findings on Caster's health and life going forward will be analyzed by Caster and she will make her own decision on her future.
"Whatever she decides, ours is to respect her decision," it noted.
No findings of her tests will be made public, the statement added.
Australia's Daily Telegraph, citing an unnamed source, reported in September Semenya is a hermaphrodite with both male and female sexual characteristics. The newspaper said Semenya has three times the amount of testosterone a normal female would have.
The IAAF would not confirm the report.
Semenya and family members say the runner is a female and that publicity surrounding the case has caused hardships.
Davies said the IAAF had received no complaints from other athletes or national federations about Semenya.