Despite having pencilled in a summer date for his return fight, Ricky Hatton doesn’t seem to have made much in the way of progress in getting back into shape.
Attending a fight card in England a few days ago, Hatton looked every part his Ricky Fatton moniker, and didn’t look like the aggressive young champion who bested the feared Kostya Tszyu just a few short years ago.
This isn’t anything new for Hatton though, although this is the longest he has gone without fighting or training at all. Even at his peak Hatton tended to put on a lot of weight in between his fights. This was largely due to his love of fatty foods and socializing in the bars around Manchester with pints of Guinness.
In the past he has always been able to lose the weight in time for any upcoming fights, although has complained of feeling drained in his last few fights.
At one time it was reported that he had hired a nutritionist to help curb some of his bad habits between fights, although this now appears to have gone by the wayside.
Rumors continue about his comeback, with the likes of Amir Khan, Paulie Malignaggi and Juan Manuel Marquez all eager to get a shot at the once dominant champion. On the face of things there isn’t any reason why Hatton shouldn’t be able to come back in still decent form.
Aside from the ring rust he has only ever been beaten by Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, with a couple of wins between, which is far from a late career collapse that many fighters experience. Having said that though, being out of shape and probably not that hungry given his great success, he really doesn’t need to get back into the ring and put his body on the line just for the sake of it.
Being the most popular Britich fighter of his generation, the fans will still be there wherever Ricky Hatton goes, but hopefully his recent local successes as a promoter will stop him from wanting to fight again himself.
