Ricky Hatton has had doubts. Note the word 'had'. At the age of 30, the Hitman from Manchester may have suffered just one loss in his glittering career, last December's knockout by the man who was then reckoned the best boxer on the planet, Floyd Mayweather Jnr. But for an undefined spell he has been in self-interrogation mode, inflicting the sort of probing questions on himself that very few journalists would dare to utter.

Normally the invasion of even the slightest modicum of doubt would be unthinkable for a champion like Hatton, who next week will defend his IBO light-welterweight title against New Yorker Paul 'Magic Man' Malignaggi in Las Vegas. But after the loss and a less-than-stellar display in his comeback victory over Mexico's Juan Lazcano, the gremlins got into the brainwires of Hatton, as he openly admitted.

"I had started thinking to myself, 'was I really past it?'" said Hatton down the line from his training camp in Nevada. "A couple of times, I seriously started to think about quitting. I had started to feel and believe that maybe I had seen better days.

"Retirement was seriously on my mind because I started thinking 'are all these people right?' All these things start going through your head after you have two performances which I would describe as not vintage Ricky Hatton.

"I am a sensible lad and in a sport like boxing, you need to be honest with yourself. In the defeat against Mayweather I did step up a weight and take on the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and there was no real shame in losing to him.

"But for my comeback fight against Juan Lazcano I did not do half the training I would like to have done, due to my chest infection. It was hard enough coming back from my first defeat, and a knockout at that, and my performance did not fill me with a lot of confidence. So there were reasons, but at the same time I couldn't help thinking to myself, 'are my best days behind me, have I had too many fights, maybe too many hard fights?'

"When I started at the training camp I did so with a little bit of an open mind. The warning signs were on and I honestly felt that if I did not see a bit of improvement in my performance after this training camp then I would seriously have to think about the future."

Many people had also questioned Hatton's decision to part company with his long-term trainer, Billy Graham, and the split has obviously caused Hatton some soul-searching, judging by his tone.

"Everybody knew the situation I had with Billy Graham and his injuries and old father time catching up with him, which was the real reason why we had to split," said Hatton, who had seen Michael Gomez, Matthew Macklin, and his own brother Matthew leave Graham's care, thus dispelling the family atmosphere at the gym.

"I will be forever grateful to Billy. He has been one of the best trainers that Britain has ever seen, but if he was being honest with himself, the reason why they all started to leave the gym was because he was not the force that he used to be in years gone by."

Hatton turned to the father of the man who beat him, Floyd Mayweather Snr, for fresh inspiration. And it appears to have worked.

"It is the best training camp I have had for a couple of years," said Hatton. "It has been very full on. Floyd has been up at 5.30am with me running up the mountains. I used to get in at 5.30am, now I go out at that time. When I have been shadowboxing, he has been at my side, when I have been sparring and circuit training he has been at my side. The result is I am jumping out of my skin with confidence.

"Nor have I changed my style. Floyd wants me to be aggressive as always but he has polished things up a little bit.

"In my last two performances I was going all guns blazing, a bit flat out, and I wasn't thinking about what I was doing technically. This time, you will see a controlled aggression, with a lot more subtlety, and I have always performed better when I have slowed things down like that."

Three times a week for the past five weeks, Hatton and coach Mayweather have been running up to the 8,000 feet mark on the 12,000 feet high Mount Charleston, in Nevada's Spring Mountains some 30 miles from Las Vegas: "I have never run as hard – I feel like Forrest Gump," quipped Hatton.

Home-loving Hatton has clearly been missing his young son Campbell: "It is the longest I have ever been away from home, but he is what I am doing this for, and though it has been difficult, I wouldn't have changed it for the world as I feel tenfold better for doing it."

The famous yo-yoing weight is already under control, and Hatton knows he will be ready to fight next weekend: "Any boxer will tell you that you are ready if you can do 12 rounds sparring. Here I have been doing 12 rounds of sparring after running up that f****** mountain.

"Malignaggi will be expecting the obvious come November 22. He will get the body punches, the pressure, the 100mph stuff, but he is going to get a lot more."

Hatton discounted rumours that he had thought of pulling out, pointing out that the scuttlebutt started in Malignaggi's home town of New York: "We can say in typical British fashion that it's a load of bollocks."

But he knows the pressure is on him to perform: "The daggers are out for me a little bit, but that's the way of the world. I'm looking forward to shutting up my critics again."

Asked what he would do if beaten, Hatton stated: "I would seriously have to think about it, but I'm not thinking about defeat. When you look at what I have in my arsenal and what he has in his, with no disrespect, if I was to lose to somebody like Paulie Malignaggi, I would seriously have to think about quitting. I am due a good 'un and if this training camp is anything to go by then that is what is going to happen."

Malignaggi is a good boxer and worthy challenger, but Hatton is the best light-welterweight in the world. He will win in style on Saturday. No doubt about it.

• Hatton v Malignaggi on Saturday, November 22, is exclusively live on Sky Box Office and in high definition on Sky Box Office HD. To order the night of live boxing call: 08442 410 888