There will be no more boozing and bingeing between the boxing during Ricky Hatton?s comeback.
The Hitman makes that promise as he trains himself to the limit in readiness for his return to the ring three madcap years after being knocked cold by Manny Pacquiao.
Not only that but even if he loses to Vyacheslav Senchenko in Manchester on November 24 and retires again, he vows not to sink back into the debauchery which posed a greater threat to his life than any blows from even the mightiest of opponents.
‘This comeback is about the way I want to be remembered,’ says Hatton, ‘but not only that. This is a permanent lifestyle change.
‘I know that if I?m going to get all the way back to winning world titles I can?t blow up to 15 stones between fights and then train like crazy and crash diet to get the weight off. My body won?t take that any more.
‘But I also know that the drink and everything else was killing me. The depression which followed not only that defeat by Pacquiao but all the bingeing took me to the brink of suicide. That won?t happen again. At 34 I?ve got my life under control.’
Hatton is doing that his way. Not by joining Alcoholics Anonymous, sacrificing every little pleasure and thereby driving his frustrated self to fall heavily off the wagon.
Contrary to reports that he never drinks now, he is monitoring his own behaviour.
He says: ‘I’ve had about eight nights out in the last four months. Most of them have been for dinner with my girlfriend Jennifer.
‘There?s been a couple of evenings with the lads but I’ve been able to enjoy those while having no more than a couple of beers. I’ve learned to exercise sensible restraint and that?s how it?s going to be from now on, whether I?m boxing or not.?
Hatton did take counselling when fighting the worst of his demons and says that he has psychologist ‘on speed dial’ in case he needs reinforcing in his new-found resolve.
The halo of health surrounding him speaks even more loudly than his words. On the May morning he woke up resolving to kick the excesses of drink, drugs and junk-food which were destroying him, Hatton weighed 14st 10lb.
Now, at 11st 3lb, he is down to within ten pounds of the welterweight limit at which he will fight Senchenko ? with almost five weeks still to go before he steps back into the spotlight in front of 20,000 loyal fans at the sold-out MEN Arena.
