Boxing:Ricky Hatton's preparations for his ill-fated showdown with Manny Pacquiao were so shambolic he should have withdrawn from the fight, according to his father Ray.
Hatton's training camp for the clash, which ended in a brutal second-round knockout of the Mancunian, was undermined by a deteriorating relationship with controversial trainer Floyd Mayweather Senior.
Full details of the rift have yet to emerge but it has been reported Mayweather consistently arrived late for training and failed to show up on the night of the fight until Hatton was having his hands bandaged.
In the strongest condemnation of the build-up yet, Ray Hatton claims his son's attempts to seize Pacquiao's pound-for-pound crown were undermined from the start.
"It could have been a lot, lot better - massively better. I'm very disappointed with some of the things that I heard," he told Setanta Sports News. "I'm also very disappointed in some of the things I personally saw. I had reservations early on. It wasn't ideal by any means.
"I'm not making excuses about the performance because I wouldn't do that but I think the fans know Ricky Hatton and they know what we're all about.
"In hindsight, if the truth be known, he probably would have been as well making this the first fight he had pulled out of."
Ray insists the only reason Ricky fought was out of loyalty to his fans, of whom an estimated 10,000 descended on Las Vegas for the eagerly-awaited super-fight.
"Ricky's had 47 fights and when has anybody had their money back because the fight's been called off?" he said. "That shows what Ricky's all about. He's never pulled out of a fight, never disappointed the fans.
"But, when you've got people travelling thousands of miles, you've got to think of them. It doesn't take anything away from Manny.
"He's a great, great fighter but, for me, personally, that wasn't my son in that ring."