By Jim Dower: Still not quite sure whether he wants to retire or continue his career, former International Boxing Federation (IBF) light welterweight and WBC welterweight champion Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO’s) is saying that he’s leaning towards retirement. In an article by Dan Rafael of ESPN, Hatton says “I took a vacation to Australia and when I came home I went to the gym for a couple of weeks to see if I still had that fire on my belly and the desire.

If you’re going to do this, you have to give it everything. It wasn’t there for me, being honest. Maybe it will be eventually, but right now it wasn’t. I’m not announcing anything right now, but I don’t know if I will fight again.” This is sad news for many of Hatton’s boxing fans. Hatton has been undecided with his career since suffering a 2nd round knockout against Manny Pacquiao last year in May. Hatton fought a horrible fight, appearing to disregard completely the training and instructions from his trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. in the fight.

Instead of choosing to box Pacquiao, Hatton bum rushed him like he does with all his opponents, throwing leaping left hooks and getting tagged each time by Pacquiao. Finally, Pacquiao knocked Hatton clean out in the 2nd round after Hatton, once again, attempted to land a wild left hook. The loss seems to have taken something out of Hatton, as he’s put on a massive amount of weight and doesn’t look anything like the same person he once was.

Hatton appears to be in the 190 to 200 weight region and it would take a monumental effort for him to trim off the 60 pounds or so needed for him to fight at 140. Taking off 30 pounds of lard is one thing, but trimming off 50 to 60 pounds is perhaps a step too far for most fighters to take and still be successful. Hatton says he doesn’t know if he’ll fight again, yet he seems reluctant to hang up the gloves officially.

Hatton could end up retiring without making a formal announcement. It would be similar to former light welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu, who stopped fighting after losing to Hatton in 2005. Tszyu never retired, but most boxing fans see him as being retired and it’s highly unlikely Tszyu will ever step foot in the ring again. This could be the case for Hatton. It would be very tough for Hatton to take off the weight he’s added to his small frame in past 12 months.