I don't regret a thing in my career, not even retirement at 28.
Would Ricky Hatton say the same if he goes ahead with his comeback? It is not a wise move. Hatton has nothing to prove. He enjoyed a fine career as one of the most successful British boxers of all time.
He does not need the money or the adulation. What is one more win after that victory over Kostya Tszyu? In the fullness of time that is the kind of performance for which he will be remembered.
If he were to beat Juan Manuel Marquez it would not make the defeats to Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Manny Pacquiao any less withering.
And who is to say he will put away Marquez at 140lb? We shouldn't forget that Marquez almost beat Pacquiao, took him to the wire in two barnburners at featherweight and superfeather.
Hatton would not be meeting Marquez on the terms engineered by Mayweather, who had it all his own way at 147lb.
I t ' s a tough fight, an unnecessary risk. Pacquiao was a natural end, if not the fairytale finish he wanted.
That's life. My last fight was against Jim McDonnell. The bout was stopped in the fourth round after I suffered a cut in the third.
The magic had disappeared.
I wasn't in this game to be a journeyman. I didn't want to campaign several notches below my best.
I know where that ends. You end up being cannon fodder for up-and-coming kids. I did not want that for me.
I thought at the time that I had trained as hard as I ever had, but I realise now that I no longer had the passion.
To be honest, it was not a hard decision to get out, even though there were plenty telling me that I retired too soon.
Yes, it would have been brilliant to have gone on to another world title shot. That's how Rocky did it. But the real world is not like that.
One assumes Hatton still has the desire or he would not put his hand up for the punishing training regime.
Hatton gives himself more work than most in that area.He never really did much between f i g h t s. H e w a s n e v e r particularly disciplined about diet and lifestyle.
This left him with plenty to do to get in shape for fights. As he progressed this got harder and harder.
He will have to ship three stone-plus if he is to go through with a bout against Marquez. That in itself takes it out of you.
Add in the rounds and rounds of training and sparring and that amounts to a whole lot of punishment for an eager young thruster, never mind an old hand like Hatton.
I would imagine Hatton spars more than 100 rounds in preparation for a title fight. That takes its toll. It eats away at your resilience.
Two years ago, before he fought Mayweather, I argued in this column that Hatton's career had a maximum of 18 months to run.
Pretty Boy Floyd and the Pacman underlined the point in Technicolor. The world has moved on, Ricky. It is time for you to do the same with pride.
Source: mirror.co.uk
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