Wednesday, 10 March 2010

Will Ricky Hatton fight again? Don't expect an answer anytime soon -- Mirror

Mirror.co.uk

Expect the 'will he, won't he' guessing game about Ricky Hatton's comeback to rumble on.

After announcing to the world in January, that he was ready to return to the ring because he felt he had "one more big fight" left in him, Hatton then admitted during a drunken stag weekend in Tenerife that he didn't know if he would box again.

The Hitman is flip-flopping more than a pancake on Shrove Tuesday and the bottom line is that he doesn't know what he wants.

Speak to Hatton one day, and he will tell you that he can't wait to get back into the ring and win again for his army of fans.

Speak to him another day, and he's down and not sure if he can go through the ordeal of losing the four stone he needs to shed to make his 10-stone fighting weight.

Hatton has not fought for 10 months - the longest lay-off of his career - and the longer his ring exile goes on, the harder it will be for him to come back.

He returned to his gym in Hyde last week and did three days light training before jumping on a plane with his mates to lose himself in a haze of Guinness in Tenerife.

He lacks motivation and finds it hard to put himself through hell when he's not sure why he's doing it.

Hatton has also been hit hard by trainer Lee Beard's defection to Joan Guzman and the two-weight world champ had earmarked him to be in his corner for his return.

He feels deeply let down by Beard, who was an unknown before Hatton catapulted him into the limelight.

Then there is the delay in naming an opponent, date and venue for his comeback and his US promoters Golden Boy don't envisage him fighting before the autumn when he will turn 32.

His dad and manager Ray gave an insight into the anguish the light-welterweight king is going through and he says his two-round KO by Manny Pacquiao deeply affected him.

"I would say he hasn't been the same since losing to Manny Pacquiao," he said. "He felt he let the fans down and his family down with that defeat.

"We've tried to tell him that he hadn't and that he must do what he feels is right.

"He was also a little bit disappointed to be let down by people he thought were his friends. He had always been 100 per cent fair to them, but things still didn't work out.

"We're all in the dark about what he is going to do and we will just have to wait until he decides himself."

Source: mirror.co.uk

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