Boxing Betting / Ralph Ellis / 19 April 2011 /

Ricky Hatton has reportedly been offered a huge fee to climb back into the ring. Ralph Ellis is in no doubt that the Hitman's return would be a disaster..

There should be only one word of advice that Ricky Hatton needs as he contemplates stepping back into the ring: "Don't".

I suppose it was always going to happen that the Hitman would be tempted to return. The news this morning that there's a purse of up to £2.4million waiting for him if he chooses to pull on the gloves again is hardly a surprise. As the sport struggles from the fallout from David Haye's embarrassing non-battle with Audley Harrison, the search is on to find big names to capture the imagination.

Few come as popular as Hatton, which explains why Oscar de la Hoya approached him while they were both in Manchester to watch Amir Khan's world title defence. The plan is for an October contest in Las Vegas against Mexican legend Erik Morales, and De la Hoya, who runs Golden Boy Promotions, claims: "It would be a wonderful fight. A meeting of two real legends that fight fans all over the world will want to see."

That's the theory. You fear the reality might be different. Morales is already feeling his way back into the sport after having tried to retire only to discover he couldn't live without the adrenalin of just one more contest. And Hatton has clearly got the same withdrawal problems.

He dabbled in cocaine to try to deal with his post boxing depression, before thankfully trying to handle the void in his life in a more constructive way by moving into promoting fights. Yet he is being told his boxer's licence, revoked when he admitted drug use, will be returned because he's "done his time" out of the sport. So when the money talks he'll almost certainly listen, when what he needs to hear are the voices which will tell him to accept his career is over and enjoy what he had rather than chase it again.

But that's the problem. In two years away from the ring since that awful beating by Manny Pacquiao at various times he's allowed his weight to balloon, and been drinking too heavily. He's kidding himself if he thinks that doing some sparring with the fighters he promotes means he is getting properly fit again.

If you want any idea of the standard he'd have to reach to make a significant return, then Pacquiao should provide it. The 32-year-old is still going strong, pound for pound the best in the world, and likely to prove it again when he fights Sugar Shane Mosley on May 7 in Las Vegas.

I wouldn't fancy Hatton's chances against Mosley, a tough American who is WBA welterweight super champion. Yet Pacquiao is [1.15] to win the fight and that's probably on the generous side.

The Hit Man has given us great moments of action and great memories. That's how it should stay. Boxing the sport might need some glamour, but a return by Hatton could provide the complete opposite.

Five things you might not know about Erik Morales

1. Born in Tijuana, Mexico in September 1976, in an apartment above a boxing gym, his father Jose was a title contender at flyweight
2. Inspired by his dad he was five years old when he started boxing. He lost his first amateur fight in 20 seconds with a bloody nose, but went on to win 11 amateur titles from 114 bouts
3. He turned professional aged 16, knocking out Jose Orejel in two rounds. At 21 he won his first world title, the WBO super bantamweight belt, in a battle with Marco Antonio Barrera names Ring Magazine's "fight of the year". It was the first of seven world titles at five different weights
4. Brothers Ivan and Diego also followed their father into the ring. Diego briefly held the WBO super flyweight title. Erik and wife Andrea have three children
5. During his "retirement" he took charge of the parks department in his home town and managed a 3.5million dollar budget promoting sport. He donated his salary back to the council.

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