Flashback: Ricky Hatton calls time on career for good after crushing 2012 defeat in Manchester

An emotional Hatton said he would devote his future to his family and his promotional activities after coming to the conclusion to call it a day despite having initially suggested he may consider fighting on.

A badly bruised Hatton said: “I found out tonight it isn’t there no more. I’m a straight-shooter and I tell the truth.

“I can look at myself in the mirror and tell myself I did my best, but there is always an excuse to find.

“I got in the best shape I possibly could but if I hadn’t been hit with that body shot I would have just scraped over the line with a points win and I honestly think I would still be telling you all the same thing.

“A fighter knows and I know it isn’t there any more. It’s too many hard fights, I’ve burned the candle at both ends, I’ve put my body through the mire in and out of the ring but it doesn’t matter how hard I train, I couldn’t have done any better.

“I’m a happy man tonight. I don’t feel like putting a knife to my wrists. I have got the answers I needed.

“I got the opportunity and I got the answers and, no matter how upsetting it is, I have got to be a man and say it is the end of Ricky Hatton.”

The 34-year-old’s 10-round welterweight comeback fight was his first time back in the ring since a crushing second-round knockout by Manny Pacquiao in 2009.

Hatton laboured at times before succumbing to a painful body shot which left a packed Manchester Arena crowd devastated.