By Dan Ambrose: Former two division world champion Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO’s) says he’s lost two stone [28 pounds] and he’s missing boxing after being out of the sport since losing to Manny Pacquiao by a 2nd round TKO last year in May. Hatton recently got out of drug rehab after a cocaine scandal that was caught on a hidden camera. Hatton had gained a tremendous amount of weight since losing to Pacquiao last year, but he’s now lost much of it. He’s still a bit overweight but he’s near enough his old fighting weight for him to easily take the remainder of the weight off to fight if he wants to.

Speaking to News of the World, Hatton said “I’ve been in the gym training for the last few weeks. I’ve dropped 2 stone. It’s nice to look physically a lot better. More importantly, I feel better in my head. I must admit I am missing boxing.”

Hatton has only been beaten twice in his career in losses to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao. Those defeats hit Hatton hard, and he reacted each time by going on binge eating and drinking periods which caused him to gain a lot of weight. However, Hatton still looked great after the Mayweather loss, beating Juan Lazcano and Paulie Malignaggi before losing to Pacquiao in a 2nd round TKO. Hatton used the wrong strategy in the Pacquiao fight, and would have been better off trying to box more and throw shorter punches. Hatton instead attempted to throw hooks and got countered by Pacquiao. The rest is pretty much history. It was something that Hatton needed to learn from instead of disappearing from the sport.

Hatton would do well to get a couple of tune-up fights and then get back in the ring with Pacquiao and/or Mayweather to show that he’s learned from the mistakes he made and ready to try and redeem himself. If nothing else, Hatton would be respected if he gave it a shot even if it leads to failure.