Ricky Hatton's return to the ring ended in defeat as he was knocked out by a ninth-round body shot from Vyacheslav Senchenko.

Hatton, 34, was back in the ring for the first time since a devastating second-round knockout by Manny Pacquiao in 2009, with many wondering if the Mancunian former two-weight world champion had anything left in the tank.

This 10-round welterweight comeback fight against Ukrainian former WBA champion Senchenko failed to really answer that question as Hatton laboured at times before succumbing to a painful body shot which left a packed Manchester Arena crowd devastated.

Hatton's trainer Bob Shannon admitted his charge seemed to be distracted by the explosive atmosphere that the Manchester Arena provided.

"He wouldn't give me any eye contact when we were in the ring and the noise was that bad when I was trying to get him to work his jab," he said.

"He had a few really good rounds and I thought 'right, he's settling now' and then he neglected to use his jab and his hands started coming down - everything we'd worked on in the gym.

"But you can't prepare someone for the big occasion and this is a big occasion.

"We're really, really disappointed. We knew the opponent was an excellent opponent. He was getting caught coming in. He lost his concentration probably after the fourth round and was getting caught.

"It's Ricky's mentality to catch one, give one. I think he basically exhausted after that round.

"That body punch took everything out of him."

The trainer also thought Hatton's ring rust was evident although he refused to speculate on the self-styled Hitman's future.

"Ricky has redeemed himself, he's put his life back, he's going to be massively disappointed without saying and so will all the team who are going to stand by him and see what we do from here," Shannon added on BBC Radio 5 Live

"He's not 24 anymore, he's 34. He's had three and a half years out and to me you could see that, he looked old in those (later) rounds.

"You can't beat youth at the end of the day. I'm going to sit down with him and have a good talk with him."