Lee Beard: Mayweather Sr. still in Hattons camp (possible comeback?)

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12183_5342483,00.html

A few things also said about the pacman fight which further reinforces the opinion that the loss does not fall mainly on either trainers' shoulders, but Ricky himself...

If Ricky Hatton does make a return to the ring it could still be under the guidance of trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr.

There was plenty of criticism levelled at the colourful head trainer following the Hitman's two-round defeat at the hands of Manny Pacquiao.
Hatton's father Ray has said the camp could have been 'massively better' and Mayweather's post-fight reaction did little to suggest different.

After the fight he cut a lone figure quickly exiting the dressing room and many assumed it was a sudden and brutal end to their working partnership.
But that is not the opinion of Hatton's assistant trainer Lee Beard, who believes should the Hitman return, Mayweather Sr will be part of his team once again.

Speculation

"Yes I think he (Ricky) would bring Floyd Sr back," Beard he told skysports.com. "I don't see why he shouldn't do."

"I don't think Ricky needs to return to be honest with you but there's no reason why Floyd couldn't be in charge as the head trainer again."

On the eve of the Pacquiao fight there was speculation that a rift had developed in the Hatton camp.

It was reported that Beard and Mayweather did not see eye to eye and training had descended into chaos.

But that is not a view shared by Beard, who insists it has been used as an excuse after the humiliating loss.

Spotlight

"There wasn't all that going on like people were saying," continued Beard.

"A lot of people said a lot of things regarding me Ricky and Floyd because he lost. If he had won nobody would have mentioned my name."

Beard points to the fact he got no credit for the work he did with Hatton prior to Mayweather being hired.

It was only when things went wrong that his role was put under the spotlight. "I trained Ricky for eight weeks before Floyd came in. Nobody said oh Lee did that for eight weeks. For the Manny fight I did about six or eight pad sessions with Ricky... and I was the reason he lost?"

If there was a dispute in the camp one thing Hatton's trainers clearly agree upon is that their fighter didn't follow his instructions.

Limit

They are adamant a different gameplan had been set out prior, but crucially it was a plan dismissed by the Hitman in the heat of battle. And Floyd Mayweather Jr this week said there was no way his father would have sent a fighter out to perform like that.

"At the end of the day Floyd Sr is a great trainer," continued Beard. "He didn't send Ricky out like that, I didn't send Ricky out like that."

"When I left the dressing room I gave Ricky a hug and the last thing I said to him was 'remember, we need to limit the number of times you get hit in the first couple of rounds'.

"He couldn't have got hit any more. Is that an issue between me and Floyd? There's nothing. Ricky didn't limit the number of times he got hit.

"Floyd didn't want Ricky to go out there and have his hands low and try and knock Manny out. The jab was in the game plan with a lot of feints and body movement.

Lesson

"His hands were supposed to be up and he should have been taking his time. He was rushing forward, the idea was to go forward not to rush forward."

If Hatton does return - and he is expected to have at least one more fight - his tendency to lose his head on the big occasion is obviously a cause for concern. But Beard is hopeful that his friend will have learnt a painful lesson from the Pacquiao fight, but even he is not so sure.

"Sometimes you can't change the way somebody is. He could have had a lesson learnt the hard way.

"But then you could say he should have done that with the Floyd defeat."