Mayweather Sr Muscles in to Help Hatton

Ricky Hatton has taken an unusual step on his road to reinvention, by enlisting the father of the man who ruined his unbeaten record. The Mancunian has chosen Floyd Mayweather Sr to prepare him for his fight against the IBF light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi on November 22.

Mayweather, 55, is the volatile father of Floyd Mayweather Jr, the only fighter to have defeated Hatton in his professional career when the Mancunian was knocked out in December last year. Although Floyd Jr's regular trainer is his uncle Roger Mayweather, it is his father who is credited with shaping his silky style.

Hatton, 29, sacked Billy Graham, the trainer who had been by his side since he turned pro, aged 18, after a poor display in his last contest in Manchester against the Mexican Juan Lazcano, an opponent hand-picked to make the home favourite look good but who left Hatton battered.

Hatton is quoted by the bookmakers as a 2-5 favourite to defeat Malignaggi but there are some within the sport who believe Hatton to be a declining force. The Mancunian realises his career is on the line and agrees with his father Ray, now his manager, who has spoken of the need for Ricky to reinvent himself as a more defensively minded boxer. The fighter was in Las Vegas last week to meet Mayweather, a master in boxing's defensive arts.

"At this stage of my career I am not going to change my style too much, but you are never too old to learn," Hatton said.

Frank Warren, meanwhile, has accepted libel damages of £115,000 from the publisher Random House for defamatory allegations published in Hatton's autobiography, Ricky Hatton: The Hitman, My Story and the promoter will also have legal costs paid totalling almost £2m.