By Mark Vester
Former champion Ricky Hatton is tired of people talking about his weight and health. He appreciates the concern but he doesn't see any issues with his recent announcement to return to the ring for one final run before retirement. Hatton doesn't deny that he let himself go with the weight. He says a few extra weeks of training will shed it off.
"I'm sick of hearing about my weight," Hatton told BBC 5 live's Sportsweek. "I'm a little bit heavier than I am normally would be and I will do a few weeks extra to compensate. I have always had criticism of my weight, especially in the past four years. I would guess I'm about 12st 10lb and I would generally need to lose two stone for a light-welterweight fight. I want to do four or five weeks away from the gym shedding time and then doing my normal 12-week training camp."
Hatton doesn't see the big problem. He took part in 47 pro fights and only lost 2 of them. Those two losses came to the best pound for pound fighters in the sport, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. He doesn't pay attention to the critics on the internet who are telling him to retire.
"I've had 47 fights and I've lost two," said Hatton. "Everyone is forgetting I have lost to the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Normally you retire when somebody who is not in your class beats you. I don't listen to people on the internet or who are sat in their armchair. I listen to my family, people in the gym and those behind the scenes who saw what went on in the training camp."
"It's nice that people are concerned about my health. You can't judge if I'm past it sat in your armchair watching a couple of rounds on the TV. If you had been in that training camp you would know what had happened. If I won the next fight I would probably call it a day. I don't want the last memory of me to be lying on my back. I want to come back and finish on the top.
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