By Sean McDaniel: Former International Boxing Federation/WBA/WBC welterweight champion Lloyd Honeyghan (43-5, 30 KO’s) thinks that Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO’s) is at risk if he moves forward with his planned comeback bout. Honeyghan, once one of the best welterweights in the world in the 1980s, says in an article at The Mirror, “A half decent shot will knock him [Hatton]. All he’s going to do is damage himself more. I saw it in his eyes before he got knocked out by Floyd Mayweather in 2007. He is a shot fighter at top level.”

It remains to be seen whether Honeyghan is right about his observations, because Hatton has only been beaten by two world class athletes, Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Until Hatton starts getting beaten by other lesser top 10 fighters, we can’t know whether he is truly shot or not. Hatton didn’t help himself in either of losses by forgoing any semblance of defense and just trying to take Mayweather and Pacquiao’s heads off with every shot. It left Hatton open enough where they were able to hurt him and take him out.

Hatton hasn’t mentioned who he plans on fighting next, but he has said that he could possibly be looking at fighting Juan Urango or Juan Manuel Marquez. Those are certainly within Hatton’s capabilities to get a win, as long as Hatton’s punch resistance hasn’t diminished like some people think. Before Hatton can fight, he needs to lose a lot of weight.

During last night’s David Dolan vs. Rob Norton bout in the UK, Hatton was interviewed and he looked positively huge, looking 30 to 40 pounds over his old 140 weight. Hatton will have to lose that extra weight if he wants to get back down to 140.

There is speculation that Hatton might opt to fight at welterweight to avoid having to melt off an extra seven pounds of blubber. That might not be a good idea, because Hatton hasn’t looked good while fighting as a welterweight in the past against Mayweather and Luis Collazo. Hatton’s best weight is 140 by far, but he needs to start training soon to take off all the weight that he’s put on since being stopped by Pacquiao in a 2nd round knockout in May.

Honeyghan says “Rick is in danger of being seriously hurt. He doesn’t live a good life outside of the ring with all the beer he drinks and he is out of shape. He will have to lose about four stone.”

Indeed, Hatton appears to have put on a ton of weight during the holidays, and one would hope that he doesn’t put on any additional weight during his planned vacation coming up in Australia. It would be hard believe that he could take off 50 to 60 pounds up blubber and still be successful if Hatton puts on any more weight than he already has. I can’t think of any other sport in which an athlete put on this kind of weight and was able to come back and be successful.

“He’s [Hatton] putting his health at great risk,” Honeyghan says. “But some boxers just can’t give it up and they are their own worst enemies.” Honeyghan thinks that Hatton doesn’t need the money to continue fighting. “Boxers carry on because they need money, but he [Hatton] doesn’t. I made a comeback after four years retired and it was stupid. Ricky should call it a day before he gets damaged.”