Ricky Hatton, 43, to make sensational boxing return

Ricky Hatton is in line to come out of retirement and get back in the ring again later this year.

Having kept in decent shape post-retiring, Hatton initially called time on his career in 2012 after a ninth-round loss to Vyacheslav Senchenko at the Manchester Arena.

Now, it seems as though the British boxing legend is keen on a return to the sport in the form of an exhibition bout.

According to SunSport, Hatton will go toe-to-toe with Mexican boxing icon Marco Antonio Barrera. The pair are reportedly in advanced negotiations regarding the fight, but nothing has been officially finalised as of yet.

Hatton becomes the latest high profile name to come out of retirement, following in the footsteps of Mike Tyson, Roy Jones Jr, and Evander Holyfield.

Oscar De La Hoya was also set to return to boxing, but a battle with COVID-19 slowed that process down.

In an interview with The Sun last year, Hatton continuously flirted with the idea of making a comeback:

“I am all for these dream fights we keep hearing about.

“I have youngsters coming up to me, saying, ‘I’ve watched your fights on video but I never got to see you live!’

“And I think that is why I’m a fan of these exhibitions.

“You’re not going to see your heroes get seriously hurt, it is a chance to see them showcase their skills one last time and you can raise a bit of money for charity too, so I’m all for it.

“There’s a couple of picks that spring to mind for me. “If we are talking domestically, I would still love to see Joe Calzaghe vs Carl Froch.

“They very nearly came close to fighting, Joe was coming to the end, Carl was coming to the forefront.

“There is always those what-ifs, so if it were an exhibition between those two I think that would be quite a nice one for fight