Ricky Hatton to Fight Former WBA Champ Vyacheslav Senchenko

Ricky Hatton has chosen his opponent for the first fight of his comeback, and it will be former WBA welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko, according to a recent report by Pat Sheehan of The Sun.

The fight will take place on Nov. 24 at the sold-out MEN Arena in Manchester. 

This will be the first fight back for Hatton, who has been on a three-year hiatus from the sport since suffering a devastating second-round knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao. 

During his retirement, Hatton has had well-documented issues with both cocaine and alcohol, so a return to the ring might to do the troubled fighter some good. 

Hatton has stated that the target of his comeback is rematch with WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi, whom he defeated in 2008. 

Maliginaggi won his current title from Senchenko earlier this year with a surprising ninth-round knockout in Senchenko's native Ukraine. 

Senchenko should be a good test for Hatton. If Hatton is impressive in winning on Nov. 24, and Malignaggi does the same on Oct. 20 in his fight with Pablo Cesar Cano, expect to see the two men face each other in the first half of 2013. 

The fight would be a huge draw for the wildly-popular Hatton in England and would probably need to be staged on an even larger arena than MEN.