Reading about Ricky Hatton is one of the reasons I don't like being overly critical of fighters.

George's Dilemma

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I get irritated when I read the comments sections of articles related to boxing because some people post some fo the most disrespectful comments. Thinking to myself, this dude is going into the ring and getting his brain damaged for our entertainment, and you're calling him a coward? It's maddening to be brehs. That's especially so when you're familar with so many fighters having the most dysfunctional lives both during and even long after their career is over. But check out this Ricky Hatton piece. I knew about the alcohol problems, but I didn't know how hard he took losing to Mayweather and Pac. I didn't post the entire piece, but the lank is there if you want to check out the whole thing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ot...-Floyd-Mayweather-led-to-my-suicide-bids.html


In June, it will be a decade since the finest moment of Ricky Hatton’s career, the victory over Kostya Tszyu. Already hugely popular in this country, beating Tszyu made him a global star and led to a series of fights with the sport’s biggest names.

Those fights, which culminated in defeats to Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, made Hatton more than £25 million, but they almost cost him his life.

Until he was knocked out by Mayweather and Pacquiao, Hatton had never lost. The shame and guilt he felt at losing his unbeaten record, and the anxiety that his career was on a downward trajectory, led to a deep depression.

Within four years of that glorious triumph over Tszyu, Hatton was at his lowest point: there were alcoholic binges, a tabloid cocaine expose, and, as had happened between fights during his career, his weight ballooned.

Hatton tried several times to kill himself. Finally, what saved him was boxing. His comeback in 2012 may have ended in a third defeat - to Vyacheslav Senchenko - but the discipline of preparing to return to the ring began a process of recovery which has continued in retirement.

Today, approaching his 37th birthday, Hatton has finally found some peace.
He said: “I don’t have those dark thoughts any more, no. I am feeling older and, as you get older, you can look back at everything you’ve done in your life with a bit more pride. Depression is a serious thing and, after my defeat to Pacquiao, I was facing retirement and didn’t cope with it very well.”

Hatton can now see how the losses to Pacquaio and Mayweather, and the public’s disappointment at the manner of them, precipitated his breakdown.

“People used to say to me for years about the Mayweather fight and it f**** me off: ‘Losing to Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao is ok, there’s no shame in that.’ No, no, no. I didn’t go there just because it was them and it was a big payday. I went there to f****** beat them. So, when I didn’t, it did my head in.”

“I felt I’d let people down. I look at those fights with pride now, but for so long I just thought, f****** hell, I got beaten by him, I don’t want to leave the house, it’s embarrassing. I told everyone I was going to beat them and I couldn’t.”

Now Hatton can see honour in defeat. “Floyd gave me probably the biggest compliment he could have and he doesn’t give many out. He said, ‘Sometimes when I get to round six or seven and the fight is out of reach of the other guy, I jab and move and keep away so they see the final bell, but when the fight was running away from you, you just kept coming at me. Roger (Mayweather, his trainer) kept saying you’d fade and give in, but you never did.’”
 

H.I.M.

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Anybody i see refering to a professional, world class boxer...let alone an all-time great as a coward/bytch etc. automatically gets their opinions tuned out on on my end:ld:

Reason why outside of using them for keeping up with the latest news... i can't fukk with boxing message boards like that...because rougly 70-80% of the discussion revolves around fighter a being scared of fighter b, (fill in the blank) is a coward and just gratuitously shyttin on boxers...it's almost like most folks you see online discussing boxing don't even really care about the sport, but just use it for ulterior motives :mjpls:
 

George's Dilemma

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Anybody i see refering to a professional, world class boxer...let alone an all-time great as a coward/bytch etc. automatically gets their opinions tuned out on on my end:ld:

Reason why outside of using them for keeping up with the latest news... i can't fukk with boxing message boards like that...because rougly 70-80% of the discussion revolves around fighter a being scared of fighter b, (fill in the blank) is a coward and just gratuitously shyttin on boxers...it's almost like most folks you see online discussing boxing don't even really care about the sport, but just use it for ulterior motives :mjpls:



:mjpls:
 

yoyoyo1

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I've always said and will always continue to say I respect Hatton more than I do Floyd and Manny combined
 

patscorpio

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Dude lost to the two greatest fighters of this generation(his size :mjpls:) and feels like he let his people down :wow:

Dude had some of the GOAT crowds in boxing.
His crowds made me so angry....and I still haven't forgiven him for what he did to tszyu :camby:
 

UnoVon

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Surprised this fakkit aint killed himself yet, I remember him talking hella shyt in the buildup to the Floyd fight, dude really thought he was the second coming of Muhammed Ali in cave man form. Gotta say it was one of the best feelings ever when Floyd layed his lil white ass out, showed his lil hoe ass about respect, now he knows his place.
 

Jesus Is Lord

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My favorite Floyd fight ever. That victory was the most fulfilling win that I had for any boxer that I was a fan of. There was a lot of racist spirit leading up to and on the day of the fight. Floyd's Blackness was on the line IMO, Hatton was on his ass throughout the fight and Floyd remained so calm under pressure and methodically tore his ass apart. I'm gonna watch this fight before I go to bed tonight. Floyd took his soul and Manny discarded the body. I'm glad Ricky is fine because depression is a disease that people take for granted. Salute Ricky.
 
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The Guru

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Some of these British athletes man..Die by shame. You lose a fight it's nothing to be ashamed of. Don't let keyboard warriors crush you. You owe them nothing. Reminds me of the footballer Paul Gascoigne, another top talent English athlete who fell to pieces from drugs and alcohol.
 
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