Indeed, Ricky Hatton will retire from boxing

Sky Sports is reporting today that Ricky "Hitman" Hatton will indeed retire from boxing at a press conference this coming week. The 31-year-old Manchester native was said to have made this decision days ago, but then went back on the decision. I said then that I didn't think we'd heard the last of this.

Now, it appears we have.

The former world champion had planned to face Juan Manuel Marquez in a summer comeback clash and had been at a training camp in an attempt to get into shape.

However, his training has reportedly not been a success, leading the Hitman to admit he can no longer perform at the highest level.

Hatton was reported to be so devastated by the realisation that his career was over that his girlfriend, mum and dad flew out to his camp in Tenerife to comfort him.

Ricky Hatton is hanging up the gloves because he feels he cannot perform at his previous level. That's admirable. Like any boxer, there's always that chance he'll make a possibly ill-advised comeback, but for now, this is the real deal.

When Hatton officially makes his announcement, we'll have a career retrospective on the fighter who carried the flag for British boxing over the past decade.

Sky's Fraser Dainton does say to expect Hatton and his camp to continue to deny the retirement until the official announcement is made.