Former champion Hatton now seeking a Chinese star

"I'll try to live my dreams through other boxers," he said.

"There is such a fantastic sporting heritage here," he added on what he said was his third visit to Hong Kong, where he saw local boxer Rex Tso win the vacant WBC Asia Continental flyweight title.

"There is such a fantastic sporting heritage here. They have mixed martial arts here, which is very popular, so I am a little bit flabbergasted to think why boxing isn't so popular.

"So that's something I am hoping to change and hopefully this is the start of something and more shows."

Hatton, one of the biggest names in British boxing over the past decade, said he was yet to begin his search in the Chinese mainland - which is beginning to emerge as a force in amateur boxing.

"Whatever you do, you need to be able to walk before you can run and hopefully this is the start of something," Hatton said of the prospect of going into the Chinese mainland one day.

"It's such a massive, massive population and a massively successful area, and nobody boxes, which is incredible.

"I am sure that there is some wonderful talent out there. Nobody has probably looked for the talent from a boxing point of view until myself.

"I'd feel very very proud if I can say that Ricky Hatton came to Hong Kong and brought a fighter through to a world title level and made the (region) proud, just like I like to think I did with my fans.

"Boxing has given me and my family such a wonderful life and I'd like to pass that on to some other youngster and hopefully it will be someone from Asia. That'd be another box ticked in the Ricky Hatton story."