Ricky Hatton - Interesting article

Arch Stanton · Oct 6, 2024

JacK Rauber said: ↑

Unfortunately, you miss a lot of great pics, but here it is. And for those of you who know how to bypass a paywall, the link is above.

I meet Ricky Hatton in Hyde, the Greater Manchester town where the former welterweight now runs a boxing gym. He grew up on the nearby Hattersley council estate, stayed local and, over the years, has never really left. During the good times, when he was winning world title belts and multimillion-pound purses, he remained rooted to his home town. This was always part of his appeal. He played Thursday night darts in the local pub, turned out for his Sunday league football team, bantered with the market stall holders and the people he’d pass on the street. He was “the pride of Hyde”, and everyone knew him and everyone loved him. “I was this bubbly, larger than life character,” he says. “And hopefully, you know, fun to be around.”

During the bad times, when he stopped winning and became overweight, depressed and suicidal, he remained in Hyde. After one particular high-profile defeat — a 2009 loss in Las Vegas to Manny Pacquiao — he came home but felt unable to look the people he’d once joked with in the eye. This intense self-consciousness gave way to paranoia. “I’d be walking down the street thinking, ‘They’re all laughing at me. They’re all laughing at me.’ ” He would pass whole days in isolation, holed up. “I’d sit in the house, feeling depressed, having a bit of a cry, watching TV and ordering takeaways,” he says. “I was in a total daze.”

There were times when he would take a knife and attempt to summon the courage to end it all. “I tried killing myself. But I couldn’t do it,” he says, shaking his head. “Couldn’t do it. So I thought, ‘I’ll just drink myself to death.’ ”

With this goal in mind, Hatton fell into a routine of regular, heavy bingeing. “I’d get up, then wait for the clock to hit 12, maybe 1 o’clock. And then I’d just call at the pub.” Having once walked tall around Hyde, he now drifted about the place like a spectre: furtive, ashamed and in search of oblivion. His friends did their best to curtail his excesses, but to little avail. When they pointedly stopped going for big nights out in Manchester, Hatton would just climb into a cab and go into town on his own. And having won a passionately loyal fanbase during his career — tens of thousands of his supporters travelled to Vegas to watch his fights, the vast majority without tickets — there was never any shortage of people to drink with. Or, as was increasingly the case, take drugs with. In September 2010, pictures of Hatton snorting cocaine made the cover of the News of the World. He was in a Manchester hotel on that occasion, but to be honest, he says, he could have been anywhere. “At the time, I didn’t have a clue. Didn’t remember it. Didn’t know where I was, who I was with, what I was doing. Nights like that happened so often,” he says, matter-of-factly. “That thing in the paper could have happened umpteen times. I just didn’t care.”

Hatton knocked out by Manny Pacquiao, Las Vegas, 2009. “I was never again going to get the rush of hearing, ‘There’s only one Ricky Hatton’ ”
PA
During these often days-long benders, he says he would sometimes find himself sitting alone in the corner with a drink and quietly weeping, or buttonholing strangers and telling them that he planned to end his life. “The amount of people I must have told I was going to kill myself,” he says, frowning at the memory. Eventually friends would come to find him and drag him home. Or strangers would help him into a cab. He was a pitiable sight, and on some level he knew it. “To see me as I was — I bet there’s a few who must have shed a tear.” Through his own skill and tenacity in the ring, he had won fame, fortune and a level of popularity most sportspeople never come close to. But now, barely into his thirties, he was disintegrating. “So many people must have thought, ‘How’s he ended up like that?’ ”

So, how did he end up like that? And how did he manage to piece himself back together? Hatton, as you may have already begun to conclude, is not squeamish about discussing his past, or shy about dissecting the psychological impact of his rise and fall as a fighter. Which, when it comes to answering these two big questions, is helpful. It also helps that he is, by temperament, a talker: not garrulous or a bore, but rather someone who can tell a story in an engaging fashion. He mimes combinations he threw in the ring. He does the occasional funny voice. He’s only 44, but sounds older, his voice thick and throaty, his turn of phrase sometimes quaint, almost from another age.

• From playing Santa in Manchester to battling the best in Vegas – my journey following Ricky Hatton
• Me and my medals: Ricky Hatton

The same could be said of his values. Hatton made good money during his career and, unlike some boxers, looked after it well. But he is materially modest. Today, sitting beside one of the sparring rings in his gym, only a decent-sized watch hints at wealth. He says that, when he bought his first expensive car, he couldn’t bring himself to drive it through Hattersley. “I didn’t want people saying, ‘Look at that tosser!’ ”

He compares himself, at my prompting, with Floyd Mayweather Jr, the brash, trash-talking American boxer responsible for Hatton’s first professional defeat. “He goes on TV, calling himself ‘Money’ Mayweather, boasting about his watches and chains,” he says, his voice rising in pitch. “And I’m worried about driving me car through the estate! If I walked into the local pub in Hattersley and started telling people how much my watches cost, they’d stick a pot in me throat,” he says, by which he means people would smash a pint glass in his face.

Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather Jr at the weigh-in for their world welterweight fight, 2007
TIMES NEWSPAPERS LTD
He is about to be the subject of a new, feature-length documentary, Hatton. It is excellent: less a straight boxing documentary than a fable about what can happen when a fundamentally straightforward person finds themselves having to navigate an increasingly complex world of money, success and, eventually, failure. Hatton, we learn, grew up in a respectable working-class family. His parents, Carol and Ray, were business-minded people, and ran a local carpet shop as well as a number of pubs over the years. Hatton found his way into boxing as a schoolboy: the documentary features footage of him as a charismatic little bruiser, demolishing his opponent in the carpeted back rooms of pubs and clubs. The sport seemed to unlock something within him. “The first time you get punched in the face, you either like it or you don’t,” he says. Hatton liked it. Or at least, he liked the feeling of repaying the punch with interest. He told his teachers that he was going to be a world champion, and they smiled and nodded.
Click to expand...

Good read.

I'm very surprised at the depth and severity of his depression over his losses. More so as a very down to earth no nonsense character who I thought would take a loss on the chin and just get back to work.

Just goes to show you there really is no stereo typical 'type' that likely succumbs, or not likely succumbs to servere depression.

Lesion of Doom · Oct 6, 2024

Good article. Hope he keeps it going. Retirement can be tough for any athlete, but I feel like combat sport athletes take it hardest for some reason.

bremen · Oct 6, 2024

JacK Rauber said: ↑

Unfortunately, you miss a lot of great pics, but here it is. And for those of you who know how to bypass a paywall, the link is above.

Click to expand...

I can help with pics: imagine Hatton asleep on the canvas with Pacman walking away.

Power_tek · Oct 6, 2024

bremen said: ↑

I can help with pics: imagine Hatton asleep on the canvas with Pacman walking away.
Click to expand...

The image I have is of his diehard fans who took over the Vegas Strip on more than one occasion, I have never seen such a cult like following of a British fighter overseas before or after.
That man deserves recognition and respect for what he achieved and for the way he remained grounded throughout.
It was inevitable that he would eventually get knocked out, his style left a lot of openings but he gave everything he had every time he got in the ring and he was always humble in defeat, a true champion and a man of the people.

JL Fighter · Oct 6, 2024

I always like Hatton. A true gentleman.

JacK Rauber · Oct 7, 2024

Lesion of Doom said: ↑

Good article. Hope he keeps it going. Retirement can be tough for any athlete, but I feel like combat sport athletes take it hardest for some reason.
Click to expand...

Many men who enter boxing do so because they have come from a hardscrabble background. They don't have a lot of options and since some are fortunate enough to have a god-given talent they use it in the ring. And let's face it, combat sports take their toll on these warriors. Couple that with the fact that many have had tough backgrounds, when defeat comes and they have everything riding on their performance in the ring, their world crashes. There are so many examples of this. So, it is not surprising Ricky felt his world had fallen apart when he lost and his fame ebbed. These guys have to understand, for most of us, it doesn't matter whether they lose. They had the courage and skills to get in there and make a life for themselves where most others would have failed. Our hats are off to them.

like a boss · Oct 7, 2024

JacK Rauber said: ↑

Many men who enter boxing do so because they have come from a hardscrabble background. They don't have a lot of options and since some are fortunate enough to have a god-given talent they use it in the ring. And let's face it, combat sports take their toll on these warriors. Couple that with the fact that many have had tough backgrounds, when defeat comes and they have everything riding on their performance in the ring, their world crashes. There are so many examples of this. So, it is not surprising Ricky felt his world had fallen apart when he lost and his fame ebbed. These guys have to understand, for most of us, it doesn't matter whether they lose. They had the courage and skills to get in there and make a life for themselves where most others would have failed. Our hats are off to them.
Click to expand...

Good post. There is also that feeling of invincibility that goes with being undefeated and when it is removed many struggle to ever recover.

Log in or Sign up

Ricky Hatton - Interesting article

Arch Stanton When you have to shoot, shoot!, don't talk...... Full Member

Lesion of Doom Boxing Addict Full Member

bremen Boxing Addict Full Member

Power_tek Boxing Junkie Full Member

JL Fighter Boxing Addict Full Member

JacK Rauber Unbourboned by what has been Full Member

like a boss have gloves will travel Full Member

Log in or Sign up

Forums

Ricky Hatton - Interesting article

Arch Stanton When you have to shoot, shoot!, don't talk...... Full Member

Lesion of Doom Boxing Addict Full Member

bremen Boxing Addict Full Member

Power_tek Boxing Junkie Full Member

JL Fighter Boxing Addict Full Member

JacK Rauber Unbourboned by what has been Full Member

like a boss have gloves will travel Full Member