RICKY HATTON has left no stone unturned ahead of his return to the ring.
The former two-division world champion will come out of retirement next month to lock horns with fellow boxing great Marco Antonio Barrera in an exhibition bout.
Although their clash isn’t a professional bout, Hatton has been training for his showdown with the Mexican the same way he did when he was at the peak of his powers.
The Hitman gave his legion of fans an insight into his exhaustive training regime for the November 12 dust-up on social on Monday morning.
Hatton, 44, shared clips of himself hitting the heavy bag, cycling on the airdyne bike, performing explosive jumps over a bar and weighted sled pushes to his Instagram page.
His accompanying caption read: “Followed by my own session. Tough 8 x 3s.
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“Going through the gears now, flat out but getting second winds/recovery rate improving rapid [sic] now.”
Hatton’s gruelling workout was liked by close to 2,500 of his followers, including WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
Fury was so impressed by the British boxing legend’s work rate that he shared his post with his 5.7million followers.
Hatton’s clash with former three-weight world champion Barerra was originally due to take place in July but was rescheduled.
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The pride of Manchester has undergone a dramatic body transformation ahead of the fight – initially shedding a whopping TWO STONE in a mere seven weeks.
He told The Telegraph in June: “I was 14 [stone] six and I’m 12 two now, I’ve lost that in seven weeks which is incredible.
“I don’t think I did that when I was fighting but I was always good at losing the weight.
“When I told people I’m doing the exhibition bout in July, which came about as an idea after I saw Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr fight in a similar bout in lockdown, they said, ‘Absolutely no chance, you’re never out of the pub, look at the size of you, you’ll never do that.'”
He added: “If you tell Ricky Hatton I can’t do something I’ll do it. I’m already seeing this as a complete life change.
“It’s about exercise and diet, knowing to eat the right things, when to eat the right things.
“‘I used to be in the pub a few nights a week. Now I’m not drinking, I’ve had a couple of glasses of wine over the last couple of weeks in the house.
“My willpower is strong. I still have my nights out but they’re few and far between and I think this Ricky is here to stay.
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“I like to go for meals, I like takeaways, I like to have a pie, I’m never going to be one of them but I’m enjoying the fact that everyone comes up to me and says, ‘Ricky you’re looking well.
“No one can say, ‘You fat b anymore.’ And I can hide behind a lamp-post now – not a skip.”
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Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
