I have recently read articles on BN24 as well as other community sites and I can’t quite believe the split in opinion that Ricky Hatton’s come back has seemed to create.

To address the come back itself – Ricky Hatton was once the biggest star in British Boxing and right up in the top 3-4 in the world for fan base and interest. This success was a direct result of his down to earth attitude regardless of fame and fortune making him known as a man of the people and of course largely because of his exciting, come forward, never say die approach to every fight he ever had.

The negative side to Hatton’s career was also well documented and speculated to be the downfall of his career long before he ever retired…..His weight gain from a lifestyle non suited to boxing at the highest level.

What surprises me recently is the number of critics speculating that this lifestyle that Ricky once led is STILL likely to be his undoing when he returns to the ring later this month. I think this point of view shared by many of the top writers and pundits is incredibly naïve.

Ricky has been consistently in the gym even through his problems he suffered in his personal life a couple of years ago. His current conditioning and shape has been achieved over a sustained period of training and gradual weight loss dating back over 24 months.

I think on November 24th the world will see a Ricky Hatton similar to that of the fighter that walked through Kostya Tszyu in Manchester to win the world title.

Now to the title of my article – It is worryingly plain to see that over the past 2-3 years that Ricky has been resting, sorting his life out and training to achieve the highest possible conditioning for a ring return that Manny and Floyd have been simultaneously declining in speed, power, reflexes and even interest in the sport.

Floyd has shown a very noticeable difference in the allusive department, namely meaning he can be hit by less than great fighters. Victor Ortiz, whom I agree lost all four rounds until the KO, was still able to catch Mayweather with punches that 4 years ago would have come no where near him. Straight left hands as Floyd was bending forward to avoid them were landing with regular ease through the fight. Cotto followed on from this, blooding his nose and marking him up more so than in his last 10 fights combined.

Manny has shown perhaps the biggest decline of the two. He lacks ambition, his speed is just slightly slower which creates a situation where counter punchers will be able to tag him and his footwork these days is awful! He is unable to maneuver fast enough to get into position to land hard punches or avoid counter punches. This is the reason why his KO % has dropped. Of course he still has power (the last thing to go) but Power is useless with out footwork or timing. Tyson proved this late on in his career perfectly!

Look out from November people. I expect to see (from ring side) Ricky destroy Vyacheslav Senchenko inside of 4 rounds and then come for revenge on the two fighters who are no longer showing the invincibility they did 3 years ago! Mark my words!