MANCHESTER — Ricky Hatton said he felt “happy” in retiring after the former world champion's comeback bout against Vyacheslav Senchenko ended in a ninth round knockout defeat Saturday. A tearful Hatton admitted at a press conference he had painfully discovered he was no longer a force at elite level after sinking to his knees from a left to the kidneys in a non-title welterweight bout at the Manchester Arena. Hatton, roared on by a passionate crowd of 20,000 in his home city, kept missing with air-shots whereas former World Boxing Association (WBA) world champion Senchenko hardly missed at all from the seventh round onwards. But Hatton, for whom this was a third professional career loss, insisted afterwards he was “happy” in not prolonging his comeback any further following an initial ring exile of more than three years. “I gave it my best and that's the end of Ricky Hatton,” he told a news conference in the early hours of Sunday morning, local time. “I've got no complaints. It's well documented how bad it got for me and I needed to put a few demons and ghosts to bed. I feel I'd already won before I got in the ring.” Prior to Saturday's bout, Hatton said he'd come out of retirement for “redemption” against Senchenko after battling problems with drugs and depression that saw him balloon in weight following the Pacquiao defeat and even contemplate suicide. However, Hatton was adamant losing to Senchenko would not be the catalyst for renewed personal turmoil. “I'm a happy man and I don't feel like putting a knife to my wrist and killing myself,” he insisted. Hatton will instead concentrate full-time on his career on the safe side of the ropes as a boxing trainer and promoter. Guerrero earns decision In Los Angeles, Robert Guerrero retained his World Boxing Council interim welterweight world title Saturday, emerging from a brutal battle with Andre Berto with a unanimous decision. Guerrero knocked down Berto in the first and second rounds, but Berto recovered to take the slugfest to the end. The two battled toe-to-toe in the 12th, the crowd noise so loud that the referee couldn't hear the bell to end it. All three judges scored the bout 116-110 in favor of Guerrero, who improved to 31-1-1 with 18 wins inside the distance. Berto, fighting for the first time in 14 months and after a planned rematch with Victor Ortiz was scuppered by Berto's positive test for the steroid nandrolone, fell to 28-2 with 22 knockouts. — Agencies
