Former world champion Ricky Hatton has announced his second retirement after being soundly beaten in his return to boxing after a three year retirement.

Former world champion Ricky Hatton announced his second retirement from boxing after his comeback bout against Ukraine's Vyacheslav Senchenko ended in defeat on Saturday.

After a three-and-a-half year retirement from the sport, in which the 34-year-old Englishman battled alcohol and drug problems, as well as depression, Hatton was outclassed by Senchenko, who took victory on a ninth-round stoppage.

Hatton suffered a heart-breaking return to the ring before his Manchester home crowd.

He was floored by a left to the body which sent him crashing to the floor in agony, and he was in too much pain to rise.

"I am not a failure, that is not how my career should end but I have to have a good think about it now," Hatton initially said after the bout.

"I thought I was maybe four rounds up but there were clear signs of ring rust."

Hatton's personal problems started when he was knocked out by Filipino great Manny Pacquiao in two rounds in May 2009.

The Manchester boxer was left haunted by the savage defeat -- one of only two professional losses -- and his life descended into chaos.

A former world champion at light-welterweight and welterweight, Hatton piled on the kilos as he drank excessively.

But on the eve of Saturday's fight, he had appeared to be in good physical and mental shape.

Senchenko met Hatton two months after losing his unbeaten record - and his WBA welterweight title - in a ninth-round loss to Paulie Malignaggi.

Hatton decided not to return against an easy opponent and instead opted to take on a credible fighter in the form of Senchenko.

Hatton's trainer, Bob Shannon, thought the fighter seemed to be distracted by the atmosphere at Manchester Arena.

"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," Shannon 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 ... that body punch took everything out of him."