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The man charged with getting Ricky Hatton into shape for his fight with Floyd Mayweather on 8 December says his man has never been better prepared.
The last time Hatton stepped up from light-welterweight to welterweight he struggled to beat Luis Collazo on points in May 2006 for the WBA title.
But Hatton's stength coach, Kerry Kayes, says he will be in far better shape for the WBC bout in Las Vegas.
"We've all learnt the lessons from the Collazo fight," Kayes told BBC Sport.
"It is easy for people to say in a training camp that this is the best [condition] he's ever been in. But let's live in the real world, even if he wasn't, some people would say that.
"But it is truly the best he has ever been. He's fighting a weight above his normal weight but we've been given 14 weeks' notice, so Ricky's on fire, I promise you."
Hatton claimed the WBA welterweight crown, which he has since relinquished, when he beat southpaw Collazo at the Boston Garden last year.
The 29-year-old said afterwards that it was the toughest fight of his career having only had a limited time to prepare.
Ricky had an extra seven pounds to play with, took his foot off the pedal and admitted to me after the fight that he'd had the odd takeaway
Hatton's strength coach Kerry Kayes
Since then he has returned to the light-welterwight division, at 140lb, where he beat both Juan Urango and Jose Luis Castillo in 2007.
But, according to Kayes, the Mayweather showdown has been carefully managed to avoid the mistakes made in the build-up to the Collazo fight.
"Billy Graham [Hatton's trainer] did not want the fight [against Collazo]," said Kayes.
"He said that it was a foolish fight to take on such short notice but 'big balls' Ricky Hatton overruled him. Ricky learnt a lesson because he said he would never overrule Billy again.
"Then, because Ricky had an extra seven pounds to play with, he took his foot off the pedal and admitted to me after the fight that he'd had the odd takeaway."
606: DEBATE
Floyd is not going to know what to do when Hatton brings so much pressure. He'll be so scared
KW
Kayes also suggested that Mayweather's size will hand Hatton an advantage.
"Collazo was a very big welterweight at 147lb, in fact Collazo had fought at middleweight and light middle and was coming down," Kayes added.
"Ricky was going up. So Collazo was a very big man, a southpaw, a Don King fighter in America and Ricky won clearly on points.
"So yes, by Ricky's standard it was a bad night at the office, but he still did very well.
]"Mayweather is a very small welterweight fighter. Me and Billy went on that tour eight weeks ago all over America and we looked like a couple of gay fellas because we were constantly weighing up the structure of Mayweather.
"We both came to the same conclusion - that he is a very small man.
"So we've had 14 weeks notice against a traditional boxer who is a very small man so it will be a completely different night at the office
The last time Hatton stepped up from light-welterweight to welterweight he struggled to beat Luis Collazo on points in May 2006 for the WBA title.
But Hatton's stength coach, Kerry Kayes, says he will be in far better shape for the WBC bout in Las Vegas.
"We've all learnt the lessons from the Collazo fight," Kayes told BBC Sport.
"It is easy for people to say in a training camp that this is the best [condition] he's ever been in. But let's live in the real world, even if he wasn't, some people would say that.
"But it is truly the best he has ever been. He's fighting a weight above his normal weight but we've been given 14 weeks' notice, so Ricky's on fire, I promise you."
Hatton claimed the WBA welterweight crown, which he has since relinquished, when he beat southpaw Collazo at the Boston Garden last year.
The 29-year-old said afterwards that it was the toughest fight of his career having only had a limited time to prepare.
Ricky had an extra seven pounds to play with, took his foot off the pedal and admitted to me after the fight that he'd had the odd takeaway
Hatton's strength coach Kerry Kayes
Since then he has returned to the light-welterwight division, at 140lb, where he beat both Juan Urango and Jose Luis Castillo in 2007.
But, according to Kayes, the Mayweather showdown has been carefully managed to avoid the mistakes made in the build-up to the Collazo fight.
"Billy Graham [Hatton's trainer] did not want the fight [against Collazo]," said Kayes.
"He said that it was a foolish fight to take on such short notice but 'big balls' Ricky Hatton overruled him. Ricky learnt a lesson because he said he would never overrule Billy again.
"Then, because Ricky had an extra seven pounds to play with, he took his foot off the pedal and admitted to me after the fight that he'd had the odd takeaway."
606: DEBATE
Floyd is not going to know what to do when Hatton brings so much pressure. He'll be so scared
KW
Kayes also suggested that Mayweather's size will hand Hatton an advantage.
"Collazo was a very big welterweight at 147lb, in fact Collazo had fought at middleweight and light middle and was coming down," Kayes added.
"Ricky was going up. So Collazo was a very big man, a southpaw, a Don King fighter in America and Ricky won clearly on points.
"So yes, by Ricky's standard it was a bad night at the office, but he still did very well.
]"Mayweather is a very small welterweight fighter. Me and Billy went on that tour eight weeks ago all over America and we looked like a couple of gay fellas because we were constantly weighing up the structure of Mayweather.
"We both came to the same conclusion - that he is a very small man.
"So we've had 14 weeks notice against a traditional boxer who is a very small man so it will be a completely different night at the office
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