RICKY HATTON has a big point to prove against Juan Lazcano in front of 55,000 fans at the City of Manchester Stadium tonight as he seeks to emulate so many great champions by bouncing back better from his first defeat.

Despite his mighty success at the box office Hatton has found himself in the unusual position of having to defend his reputation in the build-up to his first fight in his home country for over two years.

As doubts continue to swirl about supposed tension in his camp and the effects of his notorious out of training drinking sessions, Hatton knows only an emphatic victory will keep his hopes of a rematch with Floyd Mayweather alive.

Hatton said: Everybody is pointing the finger a little bit, saying his lifestyle has finally caught up with him'. I want to go out with a little bit of defiance. I want to say, you think I'm past it? Look at this'.'' Hatton, who tipped the scales at 9st 13lbs 11oz - the same as Lazcano - at a noisy weigh-in at the city's Trafford Centre, insists the prospect of retirement never crossed his mind, and that defeat might make him a better fighter.

The weight of boxing history certainly backs up Hatton's belief.

Many fighters, including Sugar Ray Leonard, who lost his first fight against Roberto Duran, came back better and ultimately established true greatness.

A lot of people think you wind down your career when you come off a defeat but I think the opposite thing,'' added Hatton. I am thinking more about continuing my career rather than lying down.

I've got more to prove now. I think I've got to redeem myself in the sense of coming back from defeat. People expect me to bow out after a couple more fights, but to me things keep getting bigger and bigger.

I'm not saying I needed a kick up the arse but sometimes that's what a knockout defeat can do.

You go back to basics a little bit and look at the bigger picture. I think that's why so many champions come back stronger from a loss.'' Hatton's remarkable popularity has made him one of the most marketable fighters in the world today, a position that was hardly dented by the manner of his defeat to Mayweather.

Already there is talk of an ambitious rematch against Mayweather, possibly at a European stadium that could exceed a 100,000 capacity. Next is a shot at IBF champion Paulie Malignaggi, who appears on the undercard tonight.

But first Hatton must prove what his trainer Billy Graham accepts is an imponderable, that he is capable of shutting the Mayweather loss out of his mind and doing a job against the solid if unspectacular Lazcano.

As comeback opponents go, Lazcano is hardly the type to provide sleepless nights. A capable operator at the top level, he lost his last fight to Junior Witter victim Vivian Harris 16 months ago, and effectively retired.

The 33-year-old, who has won 37 of his 42 fights, 27 inside the distance, opened a restaurant franchise in his home city of Sacramento and apparently resigned himself to the notion that his boxing career was over.

Lazcano, however, was remembered by the Hattons, having been forced to pull out of a proposed contest early last year due to injury. Now the Mexican insists he is better prepared than ever for the challenge.

Lazcano said: It's been a long journey and I've slowly been building up my career. For me this is a resurrection for my career.

I've got a new team and I feel like a new Juan Lazcano.

I always wanted to be a champion and I accomplished that.

But greatness was never on my radar. Now I believe that I can be great. Once you believe and think something, it can happen.

I didn't prepare well for my fight against Harris. I ate too many tamales. I thought, if that's the best I can do I don't want to pursue this any more. But it's amazing how things have worked out. I believe it's destiny for me.'' Lazcano certainly has the ability to present Hatton with some problems. Earlier career victories over cagey veterans like Wilfredo Vazquez, Jesse James Leija and John John Molina are testament to his fighting ability.

But as an upright, come forward fighter, Lazcano is the kind of fighter upon whom a hungry, top-form Hatton regularly feasts.

This fight is not so much about what Lazcano might gain, as what Hatton could lose.

There was probably an element of truth in what Lazcano's veteran trainer Ronnie Shields said last week, about Hatton's lifestyle finally beginning to catch up with him after so many gruelling contests.

That erosion will probably ensure that Hatton is forced to settle for a clear points win over his sturdy rival, rather than the kind of spectacular knockout the vast majority of his 55,000 supporters will have come to see.

But for Hatton, for now at least, redemption will do just fine.