Ricky Hatton: Boxing legend on reaching rock bottom, incredible weight transformation and ring return
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Boxing losses left me on the brink - Hatton
Eight months ago, Ricky Hatton was 15st 4lbs, drinking every weekend, indulging in too many takeaways and neglecting his health.
The British boxing legend - a former world champion - was 43 years old and training professional fighters in his gym in Hyde in Manchester from Monday to Friday, but admits: "I was massively obese."
Then he got a call asking if he would be interested in taking part in an exhibition fight with an old rival turned good friend - former three-weight world champion Marco Antonio Barrera, now 48, at the AO Arena in Manchester.
He jumped at the opportunity, seeing it as a chance to lift people's spirits, and his own.
"It was a very easy decision to me to make," says Hatton, now 44.
"The whole purpose was to set myself a goal for this exhibition, to get in shape and inspire so many people.
"I haven't even set foot in the ring yet but the letters, comments of people who've struggled with weight, struggled with mental health have said: 'Wow, if you can do it, what you've been through and shift all that weight at 44 years of age?'
"That's what it's all about for me, just as much as throwing the punches."
Hatton last fought in 2012 when he was beaten by Ukraine's Vyacheslav Senchenko
The bout was originally scheduled for July but an injury to Hughie Fury - who was fighting on the same bill - delayed it until this Saturday.
The exhibition against Mexico's Barrera will not count towards Hatton's 45-3 professional record and will be eight two-minute rounds, with no official winner or loser declared.
The former welterweight and light-welterweight world champion admits his family did not immediately take to the idea.
They had seen how low he became after losing to Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in 2007 and 2009. Those defeats left him deeply depressed and led to the darkest times of his life.
There were also those who didn't believe he could shift the weight, after last fighting professionally in 2012, a loss to Ukraine's Vyacheslav Senchenko.
"I could hear little whispers in around the pub and in around where I was. 'Hear what he said there? He thinks he's going to have another exhibition fight again.' And you know I always loved proving people wrong," he says.
Hatton did lose the weight. He began a strict diet made up of 400-calorie prep meals and protein shakes, along with his own training regime.
He shed two stone by the original fight date but the postponement gave him four extra months to train and now in fight week in November he weighs just 11st 6lbs - four stone lost in total and appearing as a changed man.
"Ricky Fatton is a thing of the past now. This is the new Ricky," he adds.
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It's all about "showing willpower", according to Hatton. He hasn't been able to kick his tea addiction, but is down from eight to two a day - one in the morning and one at tea-time - and has stopped drinking alcohol completely during his training camp.
His transformation has been so intense that his parents and loved ones have come round to the idea of him fighting again. They saw him at rock bottom and Hatton's desire to share this story is a big part of his return to the ring.
After his knockout defeat by Pacquiao in 2009 he knew his career was over, despite the short-lived comeback in 2012.
"I had no boxing. My career was over. I'd fallen out with my parents. I'd fallen out with my trainer Billy Graham. That's when it got to rock bottom," he says.
"I just went out on the warpath. I was suicidal. It was horrible for people to see.
"So that's when people turn around and say, 'Aw, why are you doing this exhibition?' If you could have seen me back in that period, you'll know exactly why I'm here. And you wouldn't even question it."
Hatton turned 44 in October while Barrera (left) is 48
The Briton is one of a host of former pros competing in exhibitions. His old rival Mayweather has made millions in recent years popularising stripped-back contests for the masses.
Hatton will fight for the 19th time in his hometown of Manchester. The Stockport-born fighter, who grew up in Hyde, is open to the idea of taking on someone like Mayweather in the future, but holds back from definitively calling out his former opponent.
"I think my family, my loved ones and parents could see, everyone from my boxers in the gym to my kids and grandkids was getting a better Ricky Hatton because I was in such a good place and had something to strive for," he says.
"In the end my parents, my loved ones, have said it's the best thing I've done because they've seen what Ricky Hatton's got out of it.
"We'll get in there, do the business, put on a good show and if another comes up [we'll see].
"What it's done for me as a person, mentally, physically, there's nothing negative that's come from it. I know I'm 44 years of age and I know if I do another one, I know these aren't going to go on forever."
For information and support on mental health and suicide, access the BBC Action Line.
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- Published16 October 2022
