Does Mark Wahlberg look like an overweight slob in the sweatpants picture with this piece? No, we don’t think so either, but if you gain as much as an ounce in Hollywood you’re considered way too heavy, hence the “What Happened to Wahlberg’s Abs?” headlines making their way around the web last week.

Wahlberg was pictured in LA last week doing re-takes for his highly anticipated new film, The Fighter, which tells the rags to riches story of Irish Micky Ward, the down on his luck boxer from Lowell, Massachusetts who will forever be hailed for his three legendary bouts against fellow junior welterweight Arturo Gatti a few years back.

The “blubbery” Wahlberg was filming scenes at the end of Ward’s career – he retired after the last fight against Gatti in 2003 – but we think most men would kill to look like Micky/Mark, even with a few extra pounds around the middle.

Wahlberg, a native of the Boston Irish enclave Dorchester, spent several months getting into shape for the Ward role, and his trainer, Bo Cleary, says he’ll have no problem re-gaining his six-pack abs.

“He works hard, so he’ll be back in great shape in four to six weeks,” Cleary told the Boston Herald.   (Cleary also plays a cop who breaks Ward’s hand in the film.)

The Fighter co-stars Christian Bale as Ward’s crack addicted half-brother/trainer Dicky Eklund, a former boxing star who eventually wound up in jail for a litany of crimes, including kidnapping and robbery, and Amy Adams as a girlfriend of Ward’s.

The film has been in the works for several years – among the names attached to it were Matt Damon and Brad Pitt – but Wahlberg remained committed throughout.  It’s due to be released sometime this year.

These days Ward and Eklund are pretty well-known boxing trainers in the Massachusetts area. Among their charges is Irish Joey McCreedy, who had to settle for a draw at a St. Patrick’s themed “ShamRock’d” boxing event in Rhode Island last week.