By Keith Idec
Ricky Hatton is confident David Haye still has the mental and physical capacity to make another run in the heavyweight division.
The retired Hatton visited Haye, a longtime friend, this week at Haye’s boxing in gym in London, where Haye has been working out in an attempt to overcome surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon. Haye (28-3, 26 KOs) suffered the devastating injury during the sixth round of an 11th-round technical knockout loss to huge underdog Tony Bellew (29-2-1, 19 KOs) on March 4 at O2 Arena in London.
“Listen, David is an athlete and he looks after himself,” Hatton told London’s Daily Mirror in a story posted to its website Friday. “He does everything right. He’s a very proud man. Although he’s got nothing to be embarrassed about with that last defeat, he’ll want to come back with a vengeance.”
London’s Haye is 36 and hasn’t owned a heavyweight title in six years. Hatton is convinced, however, Haye has what it takes to embark on a complete comeback, which is expected to begin later this year.
“He’s knuckling down and is in fantastic shape,” Hatton said of the former cruiserweight and heavyweight champion. “I think he’s still got it in him. It’s not like he’s got miles on the clock and has had war after war. He looks after himself outside the ring, which I didn’t do, and there’s no reason not to think he hasn’t still got a chance.”
Manchester’s Hatton, a former junior welterweight and welterweight champion, is in London because the unbeaten super middleweight he trains, England’s Darryll Williams (15-0, 6 KOs), is scheduled to face fellow Brit Jahmaine Smyle (14-5-2, 6 KOs) in a 10-round rematch Saturday night at Copper Box Arena. Williams defeated Smyle by split decision in a 10-round fight April 22 in Leicester, England.
Williams suffered two cuts during that bout and says he was ill leading up to the fight. He beat Smyle on two scorecards (98-93, 97-93), but lost on one card (96-95).
“Darryll’s a character and obviously there’s bad blood there,” Hatton said. “But I know what my lad is going to do and I don’t need to push, shove and talk about it.
“I think Darryll will win – and in better style than last time. I can see a late stoppage.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.