RICKY HATTON hopes, finally, to see fellow Mancunian Tyson Fury return to boxing.
โYou’d love to see him back because he never lost it in the ring. You’dย love to see that all-English heavyweight title fight against Anthonyย Joshua,โ Hatton said.
Ricky believes that Fury, at his best, could have beaten Anthony Joshua, now the unified IBF and WBA heavyweight champion. โI think if Tyson would have boxed Anthony Joshua maybe six or sevenย months after he beat Klitschko, he would have won,โ Hatton says. โHe’s an absolute nightmare, Tyson, he’s orthodox, southpaw, in, out. Iย just see it in my mind him walking Anthony Joshua on to one.โ
The big question, Hatton asks is: โCan he ever be that good again? That’s the big question. Has he done tooย much damage?โ
Ricky knows exactly what itโs like to blow up in weight, and to try to return to boxing after a long time out. โI looked a million dollars in sparring before I made my comeback butย the minute the bell went I thought ‘oh s***,’โ he recalled. โThat can happen when you’ve done that much damage.โ
โI used to lose weight but he has had to lose seven stone,โ he continued. โI put weight on but that was only four or five months. He has had two orย three years now.โ
Hatton mused, โI worry about Tyson. He has been in my gym, he spent about a monthย training in there and he looked absolutely sensational, still carryingย that excess weight but he’s still got another four stone to go. But Iย just wonder has he already done too much damage to himself? That’s myย worry.
โAnd he’s not a Buddhist monk is he? He must have done some damage in theย few years out.โ
Fury appears to be the kind of man who follows his own instructions too. โI think Tyson will tell his coaches what he wants to do.ย Billy Graham [Hattonโs trainer]ย used to say ‘you fat bastard, you’re doing this and that today,’โ Ricky recalled. โI don’t think that exists with Tyson, he’s the boss โ which is wrong,ย isn’t it?โ