The son of a British boxing legend has announced an abrupt retirement from the sport.
It’s always difficult for boxers to follow in the footsteps of their fathers, as seen again recently when Julio Cesar Chavez Jr was defeated by Jake Paul, again failing to live up to the legendary path created by his iconic father Chavez Sr.
Another young prospect that hoped to replicate the success of his father was Campbell Hatton, after Ricky won world titles in two weight classes to become one of the biggest stars in the entire sport.
Things have been difficult for Campbell after a promising start, with the 24-year-old losing his last two fights to James Flint, each by unanimous decision.
With that in mind, father Ricky has revealed to Boxing Now that Campbell has made the decision to bring his professional career to an end.
“Campbell won’t be fighting again. He didn’t have a lot of amateur experience, he gave it a go in the amateurs and then went pro and gave it a go. He fought for the Area title and got beat, I thought he lost it to be fair. Then he fought the same lad straight away after. I thought he won the second one but he didn’t get the decision, they were both very close fights.
“He lost a little bit of his mojo, then he had a few things wrong. He sadly lost one of his best friends Justin who passed away at 27. He went through a bit of a time, he lost his mojo, his heart wasn’t in it. I said ‘listen son, you should be very proud of yourself, you’ve give it a go, but if you’ve lost your mojo you need to get out of this game.’ You can’t play at boxing. I advised him and now he’s doing solar panels, so he’s gone into another job, he’s a grafter he works hard, he gave it a go but it just wasn’t for Campbell.”
While Campbell may be hanging up his gloves with a final record of 14 wins and two losses, Ricky is set to make a surprise return to boxing in December when he competes in Dubai, and he has revealed exactly why he is doing so at the age of 46.
