Hatton: I axed coach because he was falling apart

BILLY WAS CRIPPLED Hatton: I axed coach because he was falling apart WORLD-BEATERS - winning ways for Ricky Hatton and Billy Graham By STEVE LILLIS, 10/08/2008 RICKY HATTON today reveals the real reasons behind his split with trainer Billy Graham and admitted: I had to let him go because his body is falling to bits. Hatton ended their successful, 11-year relationship last month and then Graham announced his immediate retirement. The 29-year-old former undisputed world light-welterweight champion fears his training would suffer due to Graham’s body crumbling after thousands of punishing rounds with him. The 53-year-old trainer’s arms, elbows and hands are so badly injured he requires injections, takes anti-inflammatory drugs and can no longer swim. Mancunian Hatton, who challenges IBF champ Paulie Malignaggi in Las Vegas on November 22, said: “We had a meeting and I said, ‘Billy, you’re falling to bits. You admitted on TV that you’re physically beaten and told me you can’t even swim with your daughter’. “The work has got harder for Billy over the years and he has been a bit slower. That is not his fault, but he is in his 50s and can't do what he could at 33 or 43. “I love Billy, but can’t have a trainer who has admitted umpteen times that he is physically beaten. How can I expect him to be okay for the next 12 weeks while I’m preparing to fight Malignaggi? “There is no way Billy could have been on top form and continue training me. “How do I know how hard or correctly I’m punching when he has needles and cannot feel his hands when we’re on the pads? “He might say, ‘You’re hitting hard’ but I would be thinking, ‘How do you know? You can’t feel your hands’. “If he thinks anything of me he’ll have a good look in the mirror and admit, ‘I’m falling to bits. I’m physically done’. “I don’t want to hear from my trainer who is taking so much medication to ease the pain, ‘Don’t worry, Rick, I’ll get through this training session’. “It is me who needs to get through sessions because I'm the one taking the punches.” Graham has trained The Hitman for all of his 45 contests in a professional career that began in 1997. But Hatton admits he, perhaps, should have quit Graham’s camp after his sole defeat against Floyd Mayweather Jr last December. Hatton added: “Maybe I should have realised Bily was struggling a couple of fights ago, but I’ve put it off and put it off.” British boxing’s favourite fighting son will not fall out with Graham, but is upset the trainer blamed others for his downfall. Graham’s relationship with Hatton’s dad Ray and agent Paul Speak was uneasy. Conspired Speaking at a Tenerife holiday base, Hatton insisted: “Billy thinks other people have conspired for him to leave, but I am the boss and make the final decisions.” The two-weight world champion has returned home and will name a new trainer this month to work with Lee Beard, who Graham did not want in the corner. Favourite to land the job is Floyd Mayweather Sr, Beard’s close friend. Hatton added: “Billy would have still been in the camp if he’d swallowed his pride and said, ‘Lee isn’t coming in to takeover. He's coming in to help me’. "But typical proud Billy, ‘I’m Billy Graham. I’m not working with some amateur coach’.” Hatton has refused to rule out an eventual showdown against his friend Amir Khan. He said: “I would much rather be cheering Amir on but if the fight did happen I would be up for the challenge.” http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/article11912.ece