Ricky Hatton has opened up about how he contemplated suicide and would cry all day after his defeat to Floyd Mayweather in 2007.
Hatton, 43, who is returning to the ring for an exhibition bout against Marco Antonio Barrera in his hometown Manchester this summer on July 2nd, has opened up on the struggles he faced after his most notable defeat.
‘The Hitman’ was arguably Britain’s best boxer in the mid to late noughties, taking on Floyd Mayweather in a glittering Las Vegas showdown.
Mayweather, who was undefeated at the time, kept his streak going with a 10th round stoppage over Britain’s jewel in the crown.
Ahead of his return to the ring, Hatton made an appearance on James English’s podcast where he opened up on how he struggled after the Vegas defeat to ‘Money’ saying:
“Something in my head, paranoia in the back of my head was saying ‘I hope they don’t think I’m getting too big for my boots, I hope they don’t think I’ve forgotten about them, what might have changed, I hope they don’t think I’ve changed.’”
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 10: Ricky Hatton attends the MEN Pride of Manchester Awards 2022 at Kimpton Clocktower Hotel on May 10, 2022 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Anthony Devlin/Getty Images)
He returned to Vegas to take on Manny Pacquiao and aim for redemption in Neveda, but things got worse for the Mancunian.
He suffered another humiliating defeat, lasting just two rounds before the Mexican landed a third knockdown, forcing the referee to stop the bout.
After the second defeat, Hatton claimed the following: “I’d come home from the gym, train me lads, tell a few jokes, crack a few smiles. On the surface, Rick’s alright, then I’d come in here and just cry. Cry all day, cry all day”.
“It's pretty much the same routine every day and then sometimes I’d come in and get a knife out and just sit there with it by my wrist, just crying, cry and cry and cry, and be going ‘come on, come on’.”
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - JUNE 09: Ricky Hatton, trainer of Nathan Gorman looks on after Nathan Gorman and Sean Turner compete in a 10-round heavyweight contest at Manchester Arena on June 9, 2018 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
When talking about his comeback at Manchester Arena, it was an easy decision for the former light-welterweight and welterweight champion, who is doing the bout for his own mental health.
He’s an ambassador for Talking Minds.
Hatton gave the following reasons in his interview with English when looking ahead to his return in July: “I'm an ambassador for mental health and as a celebration of us coming out of Covid, they said would I like to make one more move about at the Manchester Arena - it was an easy decision for me to make and I said: 'absolutely'.”