Ricky Hatton is off the hook from possible prosecution for cocaine abuse but has failed to reel in Wayne Rooney to his beloved Manchester City.
It has been a mixed few days for the Hitman. First came the relief that police do not seem to have enough supporting evidence to bring charges following newspaper photographs of him snorting a substance.
Then the disappointment of Rooney's giant U-turn into a new five-year contract at Manchester United.
Whether or not Hatton was acting on authority from City, the word is that he was doing his best to coax Rooney into crossing one of football's great divides. The two are good mates and are believed to have talked at length on holiday about the transfer which threatened to incite an outbreak of civil war in Manchester.
City have to be aware of the friendship between their most famous fan and the most potent English footballer of his generation.
It would not have been in the interests of manager Roberto Mancini and his mega-rich employers to dissuade Hatton from exciting Rooney's interest in a salary in excess of even the £200,000 a week for which he has now re-settled at Old Trafford.
And if they simply let Hatton get on with acting as an unofficial go-between, they have done nothing wrong.
Certainly, Hatton will have been a persuasive advocate for the club he has followed since childhood - and whose fans have turned out in their thousands to roar support for his boxing heroics on both sides of the Atlantic.
No-one outside the City hierarchy could have been better placed to convince Rooney that the massive spending there will continue until they have built a team to challenge for domination over club football at home and in Europe.
Hatton will have been as concerned about selling City to Rooney as with his own legal position.
The fight fraternity will simply be hoping that the decision not to prosecute him will enable the former world light-welterweight champion to sort out his life after the ring.
Hatton's warrior instincts - as well as his determination to remain a man of the people despite his glory - have cemented a place for him in the hearts of boxing lovers everywhere.
The difficulty of bringing a successful prosecution for the apparent addition of drugs to his lifestyle of boozing and binge-eating helps explain why the British Boxing Board of Control let him keep his promoter's licence despite revoking his permits as a fighter and a trainer.
They are nervous of law suits. Since Hatton has still not formally retired - 'I don't have the urge at the moment but you never know' - he could be encouraged now to re-apply for his boxer's licence.
If so, following his crushing defeats by Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Manny Pacquiao, it would be with an eye to going out as a winner with one last hurrah - at the City stadium.
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To the relief of his trainer and promoter, the world's greatest pound-for-pound boxer has arrived back here in the no-nonsense sweat-shop called The Wild Card Gym.
Manny Pacquiao flew in from his native Philippines to concentrate solely on the November 13 set-to with Antonio Margarito in which he hopes to become the first fighter to win world titles in eight different weight divisions, a record which would be likely to stand for all time.
Not a moment too soon, chorused Freddie Roach and Bob Arum as the PacMan was mobbed by hundreds of fans at Los Angeles airport.
Roach the master trainer and Arum the Hall of Fame promoter had become worried that Pacquiao's work as a recently elected congressman in Manilla was undermining his preparation for dealing with the physically much bigger Margarito in their bout for the world light-middleweight title.
Although Typhoon Megi - which killed at least 13 Filipinos and left thousands more homeless - by-passed his training camp in Baguio City, the PacMan was beset by myriad distractions in his own land.
At one point during sparring he told Roach: 'I'm missing my job.'
That reference to his new political career left his trainer saying: 'It would not surprise me now if Manny retired from boxng.'
Personal appearances at gala functions also interrupted the usually spartan training regime and Arum noted: 'Speed is one of Manny's prime assets but he is not looking as quick in the ring at the moment.'
Pacquiao has less than three weeks to re-sharpen his act, although he says: 'I am fully confident of beating Margarito.'
Assuming he is right, a good deal of the credit will go to our own Amir Khan. Bolton's former Olympic silver medallist, also trained by Roach, is getting ready for the biggest fight of his life... a Las Vegas defence of his world light-welterweight title in December against Argentine power-puncher Marcos Maidana.
Khan flew to the Philippines to spar with Pacquiao and will continue to do so here in Hollywood.
Roach says: 'That good work is bringing back the old Manny.'
But for how long? The likelihood is growing that Pacquiao will hang up the gloves early next year, leaving his friend and protegee Khan to take his place in the mega-fight against Floyd Mayweather Jnr which the whole world of boxing has been gagging to see.
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As Audley Harrison comes down from Big Bear mountain here in California, the Klitschko brothers are anxious that these six weeks of high altitude training may have given him a decisive advantage over David Haye.
Wladimir and Vitali Kltischko are still hoping to get Haye into a ring and punch his insults back down his throat but the outside chance of those fights ever happening will disappear if the Hayemaker is blown away by the A-Force in Manchester on November 13. No WBA world title, definitely no dea
Wladimir warns Haye: 'I am worried that you will lose to Harrison. In fact, Harrison could well knock you out.'
The younger Klitschko is due to defend his versions of the heavyweight championship on December 11, against yet another London-based fighter.
Fanciful speculation that Wladimir might be on the wrong end of an even greater upset has dwindled with news that Dereck Chisora faces sentencing for assault and theft convictions in court on November 10.
At the least Chisora will have to break off traiining in Scotland. At worst he could be in prison - not in the ring in Germany - on his big night.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
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