By Mark Vester

Ricky Hatton wants to avenge the only loss of his career, a tenth-round knockout suffered at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. last December in Las Vegas. Hatton is now back in the gym and starting to do some light training while his team is making plans to finalize his return, which is still holding strong for the tentative date of May 24 in Manchester.

He doesn't want to become like his countryman, Prince Naseem Hamed, who walked away from the sport after suffering the first and only of his pro career. Hatton tells The Manchester Times that he wants to be remembered for something more.

“I don't want my last fight to be that fight, me on my back getting counted out to my first defeat. What sort of a champion would I be if I didn't come back and try and prove myself? Naseem Hamed's situation is a shame; he's one of the best fighters we've ever had, but unfortunately because of the way he bowed out, he's going to be remembered for his defeat rather than all the success that went before. I don't want to go down that same route," Hatton said.

“All the greatest fighters - [Rocky] Marciano being the exception - have lost and you become a good champion by coming back from adversity. If I come back stronger, people will hold me in even higher regard.”  I'm not going to say how many more fights because I don't know. But there are things I still want to do: I'd like to top the bill at Madison Square Gardens, I'd like to fight in the City of Manchester Stadium. And I'd like another go at Floyd.”

The rematch with Floyd is something he wants to do before retiring. He doesn't feel that he was given a fair fight from referee Joe Cortez.

"There's one or two things I want to do and one of those is to prove people wrong. If you're a man, that's what you do. So I'd like to fight Floyd again; last time, I don't think I was given a fair crack of the whip. I've had one of the longest unbeaten reigns in the sport so whatever I was doing, I was doing right. I've always done the same thing and I'll carry on doing so.”

“I'd rather give credit to Floyd than blame the referee,” he said. “But this is not just me feeling sorry for myself and finding something to complain about. I have a lot of respect for Mr Cortez. Maybe he just had an off-night. And I was a little bit over-keen, over-eager and I made the cardinal sin of losing my composure. But I thought I could have won the fight, yet I started having arguments mid-round with the referee. I'd never done that in 43 fights. Floyd would be turning his back and I'd be saying: ‘Where do you want me to hit him when he's doing that?' It got to the point where I thought, ‘I'm scared of hitting him in case I get warned'.

Most experts didn’t give Hatton much of a chance in December, and they don’t give him much of a chance in a rematch. Hatton says Collazo and Phillips were tougher fights.

“I've honestly had tougher fights. Like any great champion, Floyd found the right punches at the right time. When I fought Vince Phillips and Luis Collazo, I wasn't in the best shape afterwards, I was sore and really tired. Even after being knocked out by Floyd, I don't think it was a physically demanding fight; I'd felt worse after six-rounders."

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