By Sean McDaniel: Boxing fans are still waiting for word when Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO’s) put on his gloves and resume his career. From the looks of it, fans might have to wait a lot longer. Hatton, 31, speaking to Sky Sports, says “At the minute I’m just enjoying what I’m doing, really. Boxing is the hardest game in the world and if you have that desire then the last place you want to be is in the boxing ring. It was hard for me to get beaten by Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao and I’d hate to get beaten by someone I would have whopped a few years ago because my heart wasn’t in it.” Hatton was destroyed by Pacquiao in two rounds last year in May.

Hatton failed to follow the game plan set out for him by his trainer Floyd Mayweather Jr. by not choosing to box the much faster Pacquiao. It was like trying to cruise the Titanic through an iceberg and hoping it wouldn’t sink. It was a crazy idea by Hatton to go right at Pacquiao and an even crazier one to start throwing leaping left hooks. That kind of thing might have worked when Hatton was fighting much lesser fighters earlier in his career but it was exposed first by Mayweather in his 10th round stoppage of Hatton in December 2007 and it was exposed again in Hatton’s fight with Juan Lazcano in May 2008.

Hatton won that fight but was badly hurt by Lazcano when Ricky came charging in trying to throw big left hooks. Hatton really had himself to blame for his loss to Pacquiao. I can understand the loss to Mayweather, because Hatton probably didn’t realize how flawed his game was at the time. But he clearly understood that he needed to become more defensive and use more boxing skills when he was going into his fight with Pacquiao, but he failed to follow the plans given to him by Mayweather Sr.

Hatton says “At the minute, I don’t have the desire to do it [speaking about boxing]. But I’m enjoying what I’m doing at the moment and I get my buzz making champions….Until the hunger comes back, I’m going to stay where I am.” Hatton is currently a promoter and wants to promote Amir Khan’s fight. The chances of that happening are remote at best.

It’s all well and good that Hatton says he wants to wait until he gets the hunger back before he resumes his boxing career, but at the rate that he’s packing the pounds on his frame it could get to the point where it will be physically impossible for Hatton to take off the weight short of starving himself to make 140. He’s already established that he’s too small to fight at welterweight and if he’s unable to make 140 again, his chances of success drop even more dramatically. Hatton might as well retire if he waits too much longer or gets too much bigger.