Just as I was saying here last week that compared to certain other sports boxing is as clean as the proverbial whistle, along comes Ricky Hatton to sneeze white power all over the argument.

The former world champion, arguably the best-loved boxer in Britain since Frank Bruno and before him Henry Cooper, is currently in rehab and the tender care of Max Clifford, as the victim of yet another News of the World sporting sting.

Now those of us who follow boxing have known for years about The Hit Man’s carousing, the booze and the bingeing and how he happily became the self-parodying Ricky Fatton between fights who couldn’t pass a pub without grabbing a pint and a pie. What a card, eh?

There was rumours of late that he had fallen foul of the cocaine habit, as did his former stablemate Joe Calzaghe (and dear old Broooo-no  too). All had distinguished amateur careers before they found fame and wealth in the prize ring, and started sniffing around with the showbiz set, so to speak.

Hatton, of course will never be allowed to fight again even if he so desired, and it is possible that the Board of Control will suspend his newly-gained promoter’s licence. Alas, most in the game knew he was an accident waiting to happen, but no-one did or said anything. But they sure are rallying to support him now.

There has always been something of a fistic freemasonry between fighting men which decrees that when they are not in opposite corners ready to belt bits off each other they are steadfast in support of a brother boxer who may be taking a battering without a punch being thrown.

Which us why none of Hatton’s contemporaries are bad-mouthing him now his reputation is in tatters.

Prominent among those standing firmly by Hatton (pictured) is the former Olympic silver medallist and current holder of Hatton’s old world light-welterweight title, Amir Khan, a friend who, in different circumstances, also might have been his foe in the ring. But such a prospect is now out of the window.

Khan tells us: "If Ricky needs help, myself and my team are here for him. I have been his friend and I will always be his friend. I am one hundred per cent supportive. There’s no point in me telling him he’s been a fool, he knows that himself. I think he realises he’s let everybody down and he has just got to overcome this. We’ll do anything we can to help him, whatever he needs.

"Who knows what sort of pressures he’s been under, depression or whatever? In a way I find it hard to understand because I’ve never touched alcohol or drugs myself - and I never will - that’s because of my religion which keeps me away from stuff like that. It seems to me that it’s the drink problem that leads to the drugs. He and Joe have been elite sportsmen all their lives, as Frank was, on top of the game and role models but it seems it’s the crowd they get in with."

Khan acknowledges that he had his own problems earlier this year and like Hatton and Calzaghe, featured in a tabloid expose in the same newspaper, although in his case, it was claimed he had sent sexy text messages.

"Of course I regret it and have learned from my mistakes. I am a better person for it. It’s made me much wiser. I realise now that I’m someone people look up to, particularly young people and I want to be a role model. I’ve got an image and I want to keep hold of it.  You learn that you have to be careful what you do." A lesson no doubt re-inforced by a rollicking from his dad Shah.

Those of us who have followed the career of the immensely likeable Khan, since, aged 17 as Britain’s sole fistic representative, he won Olympic silver in Athens against the masterful Cuban Mario Kindelan were deeply disappointed at his behaviour and it is good to see he recognises  how foolish he was.



Yet despite their occasional aberrations, there is still much to admire about fighting men, particularly their work for charity. Khan, for example, was hosting an swish event in Bolton this week to raise money for a number of charities including and Bolton’s Gloves Community Centre in which he has invested £700,000 ($1.1 million) of his own money to offer youngsters the chance to box, keep fit and stay off the streets. He has also just returned from an emotional visit to Pakistan, birthplace of his parents, where, as an Oxfam ambassador, he gave hands-on assistance at the flood disaster area.  

What he saw, he says, hit him harder than any opponent ever has."You don’t realise the extent of the damage until, you see it with your own eyes, thousands of people who have been left with nothing. We were at a place called Charsadda in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It was total devastation. You couldn’t help but be moved. It was heartbreaking, unimaginable. I was in Pakistan after the earthquake too. but this was something else.  It’s put the country back years. I wanted to do whatever I could to help people rebuild their future."

With his father, brother and uncle Khan collected and distributed clean water, pitching tents and handing out money and food tokens. "We went into the camps and I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. An area the size of England has been obliterated and people face no present and no future. This tragedy has cut me deeply. It makes you feel so inadequate. I intend to go back again after my next fight because these people need all the help they can get."

Khan, 23, who has already helped raise over £1 million ($1.5 million) for the flood relief victims, says he will dedicate his next fight, which looks set to be against the leading contender for his WBA belt, the big-punching  Argentinian Marcos Maidana, in Las Vegas in December, to the relief fund, to which he will be contributing part of his purse.

Khan’s 19-year-old brother Haroon has remained in Pakistan, for whom he will be boxing in the Commonwealth Games, despite having represented England. "I think he has made the right decision," says Amir. "Every young fighter’s dream is to go to a Commonwealth or Olympic Games and Haroon had set his heart on that but he wasn’t picked for either the development or podium squads, even though he had beaten one of the guys who was.

"Just as I did before the Athens Olympics, Haroon had the choice to box for Pakistan. As it happened, I got selected but it was obvious Haroon wasn’t going to be so he had to take this option because he needs the experience of boxing in a major tournament.  England didn’t seem to want to help him at all.  We didn’t want to argue with them. Haroon has duel nationality - both our mum and dad come from Pakistan and he wanted the chance although it would be a bit ironic if he ends up boxing the English guy at some stage in the tournament - maybe even in the final. 

"He’s looking good boxing at super flyweight and he’s enjoying the atmosphere of the training camp in Pakistan. There’s a chance he’ll go professional afterwards, depending on how he does. It’s like I keep telling all young boxers: if you eventually want to turn professional, you’ve got to maximise all your amateur experience, so you can cope with all different styles. That’s what I did."

But back to the original question. Has the Hatton scandal besmirched boxing? I don’t think so. The sport remains clean - it’s just that some  in it occasionally behave like jerks.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics and scores of world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.