Heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury has praised Ricky Hatton for his weight loss heading into his exhibition boxing return.

After almost a decade away from the squared circle, Ricky Hatton will return to the world of boxing on July 2 when he takes on Marco Antonio Barrera in an exhibition boxing match in Manchester. It’s being billed as his final fight and given everything he’s put into the sport, we’d say he deserves a big send-off.

He’s had some truly iconic battles with greats such as Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao over the years but this time around, it’ll be Barrera he takes on at the age of 43.

Regardless of whether he gets his hand raised or not, it’s going to be the kind of occasion that brings thousands to their feet in the AO Arena as the Blue Moon rises one more time.

Instead of heading into this without much preparation, as we’ve seen some former boxers do in this exhibition era, ‘The Hitman’ is taking it incredibly seriously and has been able to shed the pounds in a big way.

Someone who notices and appreciates this more than most is his friend and former student Tyson Fury with the lineal heavyweight champ sending the following message to Hatton on Instagram.

Will Fury follow in his footsteps?

In the last few days, Tyson Fury has had to take to social media in order to explain to fans why he’s been working out - which seems pretty strange given his status as one of the best boxers of his generation.

The seemingly-retired star noted that he’s training to keep his weight down and help his mental health, as opposed to doing so for a comeback fight.

We all want to see him battle the winner of Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua 2 or potentially even Francis Ngannou in a mixed rules bout. That much is obvious.

Still, Fury is enjoying retirement right now and he’s earned that much after an unbelievable career stretching over 15 years.

Is a return inevitable down the road? We’ll have to wait and see how things play out for ‘The Gypsy King’.