Ricky Hatton has been taking his ring return extremely seriously as the former world champion has shed 40lb in just two months ahead of his comeback fight.
Hatton, who was nicknamed 'Fatton' during his career, fights for the first time in almost a decade against fellow boxing veteran Marco Antonio Barrera on July 2. The pair meet in an unscored exhibition bout to raise money for charity, with no winner being announced.
'The Hitman' looks like a new man after trimming down for his upcoming bout against Barrera. Fans even recently confused the 43-year-old for his son Campbell and it's not surprising after Hatton revealed the amount of weight he's lost during training.
"When I told people I'm doing the exhibition bout in July, which came about as an idea after I saw Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr fight in a similar bout in lockdown, they said 'absolutely no chance, you’re never out of the pub, look at the size of you, you’ll never do that'," he told The Telegraph.
"If you tell Ricky Hatton I can’t do something I'll do it. I'm already seeing this as a complete life change. It's about exercise and diet, knowing to eat the right things, when to eat the right things. I used to be in the pub a few nights a week. Now I’m not drinking, I’ve had a couple of glasses of wine over the last couple of weeks in the house."
Hatton went through severe mental health issues after ballooning in weight, and was inspired while working with Tyson Fury during his heavyweight title comeback. They are both major advocates for improving your mental wellbeing with exercise and better diet.
"The bad times that happened through my life are why people see me now and see the change more," he said. "If I’d always been like this they’d say, 'look at him, he looks well at 43', but because I fell from grace, I had such bad times, it makes more of an impact on people."
Hatton insisted that his return at the Manchester Arena against Barrera is a one-off and he will not be the start of a boxing return. He is raising money for those who were affected mentally by the Covid-19 lockdowns after personally struggling during that period.
"I like to think it’s an inspiration," the legendary boxer explained. "And I haven’t done the fight yet but I like to think people can sit back and say 'you know what, remember him a few years ago, wasn’t he in a right state? The size of him, depressed, wanting to kill himself, drinking, drugs, the whole lot, look at what he’s done to himself.'
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"If one person turns around and we save a life and one person goes look at Ricky Hatton now what he’s done, I'm happy. You’re still going to get the people saying what’s he doing the exhibition for, but I think it’s pretty obvious, us fighters, we’re champions."
Barrera, 48, has had an even longer spell away from the ring than Hatton. He last fought in 2011, two years after his knockout loss to Amir Khan in Manchester. And Hatton is prepared for a fun event, which starts after Hughie Fury's heavyweight eliminator with Michael Hunter the night before.
"We retire but we don’t die," he said of he and Barrera's intensity. "We still miss that training camp, we still miss that camaraderie in the gym, we still miss working your game plan out and looking at your opponent's tapes. If me and Marco we raise awareness, raise some money for charity along the way, which is exactly what we’re going to do, I can’t see how it’s not going to be a success."
