Boxing: Hatton eager to put fresh outlook to work in the ring

Thursday 22 November 2012

Ricky Hatton insists he will have no fears over his punch resistance when he makes his eagerly anticipated comeback in Manchester this weekend.

Ricky Hatton returns to the ring on Saturday night 3½ years on from his last outing, against Manny Pacquiao. Picture: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

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Dominic Farrell

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."

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Boxing: Hatton eager to put fresh outlook to work in the ring

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