Hillsborough verdict and the return of The Hitman

After 23 long years, the truth has been uncovered; now it's time for justice.

This week the truth about what really happened at the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough in 1989 came out. Many people have discussed it at length this week, as it has been headline news on the front pages as well as the back pages, so as emotional as I feel about it I don't want to dwell too much on the past; the 96 will never ever be forgotten, but now is the time for looking to the future. Even if the future is campaigning for the people who did do wrong on 15th April 23 years ago to be held accountable for their actions, as well as those who covered it up and prolonged the pain for the victims' families.  I find it hard to think that criminal charges won't be brought, particularly in the face of such compelling evidence against certain organisations and the individuals within. Although the ninety-six will always be in our hearts forevermore, I hope that the families, the city and the club can move forward; I can think of no greater tribute to the fans that did not come home that fateful day, than to start bringing trophies (and particularly the Premier League!) back to Anfield on a regular basis. I would like to finish this section by thanking all the fans of other clubs, that have sent messages of support to our club throughout this week. Unfortunately there have been a few moronic idiots that deny the verdict of the independent panel, but the support from the football family has been fantastic. 

Also this week, former two-weight boxing world champion Ricky 'The Hitman' announced he will be coming out of retirement for a fight against an unnamed opponent in November. It has to be said that Ricky dominated the light-welterweight division before moving up to welterweight so he has nothing to prove. At his peak Ricky beat the pound-for-pound No 1 Kostya Tszyu, as well as claiming the WBA welterweight belt from Luis Collazzo before losing to two of the best pound-for-pound pugilists the planet has ever seen (or might ever see!) in Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquaio.That said, you can understand that from a pride point of view why he would want to prove to himself as much as anybody that he is better than the devastating two round defeat to Pacquaio showed. Here is Ricky's press conference.

Ricky was quick to say that he wanted to earn the right to fights at the top level, but there are certainly some hum-dingers out there if he proves his worth. A fight against Paulie Malignaggi seems likely at some point in the future; after all Hatton knows he can beat the American who has never had the greatest punch power. From there, there are huge domestic money spinners against Amir Khan and Kell Brook to consider. One fight I would like to see is Hatton v Junior Witter, just so Hatton can shit him up for good. If only his boxing was as good as his mouth! As current British welterweight champion this match up is probably a real possibility. Hatton says he is in the best pre-fight shape of his life following his training with Bob Shannon who has been using 'old school' methods which favour Ricky's approach. I think that now Ricky's head is right, we may even see the best Hitman that we have ever seen. Most of all, I hope that Ricky gets what he needs from his comeback. Roll on November 24th. 

As a final note, congratulations to Andy Murray for winning the US Open on Monday. May that be the first of many major wins now he has got the proverbial monkey off his back. It is a shame that we have to wait until the Australian Open in January to find out. 

Follow me on Twitter!