Ricky Hatton insists he will have no fears over his punch resistance when he makes his eagerly anticipated comeback in Manchester this weekend.
The former two-weight world champion takes on once-defeated Ukrainian Vyacheslav Senchenko in a 10-round welterweight contest on Saturday night, returning to the ring three and a half years on from his last outing.
On that occasion, the 34-year-old fell victim to Manny Pacquiao's blurring fists inside two rounds at Las Vegas' MGM Grand. A shambolic build-up to the bout under the guidance of Floyd Mayweather Sr resulted in Hatton being floored by sparring partners before the Filipino rendered him unconscious.
Having overcome a raft of personal problems to launch his comeback, Hatton conceded to feeling apprehensive the first time he stepped through the ropes to spar in preparation for Senchenko. "It was the biggest test really," he said. "In my first spar, I was nervous.
"I put my protector on, put my headguard on, took a deep breath and thought: 'Phew, I didn't think I'd be doing this again'. But the first time I got hit on the chin I wanted to knock him out, so that's a positive."
Relentless determination was a hallmark of Hatton's heyday and he believes tapping into the same qualities have been vital in pursuit of the 10st 7lb welterweight limit, having come close to tipping the scales at 15st before a return to gym work over the summer.
"When I started my circuits and it started getting hard, doing my uphill sprints, it would have been dead easy for me to say 'I'd forgotten how hard this lot was, it's not for me', but I didn't," he said. "Every time a wall's been put in front of me, I've knocked it down. If it's going to be the comeback I think it's going to be, that's the way it had to be and that's the way it has been."
Over the past year, Hatton has donned the trainers' mitts – his star pupil Sergey Rabchenko makes the first defence of his European light-middleweight title on the Manchester Arena undercard – and his time in the corner has provided a fresh perspective that he hopes will help refine the rougher edges of a famously all-action style.
Hatton added: "Day-in, day-out I train my fighters: jab first before you go in, move your head after the combination and stuff like that. I can't tell my fighters to do it if I don't do it myself.
"Because I come into the gym and work with my fighters, it sort of gets my mind racing for my workouts at teatime. I think it's going to help and make me a better fighter.
"I'm a little bit older and wiser now, but you see things from a coaching point of view a little bit differently and I've been able to add it to my own game."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article