Former two-weight world champion says he is thriving during lockdown: ‘I’ve lost weight, I’m fitter, and I’ve been able to see my kids’
“I feel like knocking someone out,” says Ricky Hatton, feigning frustration at being in exile inside his home in Manchester, with his characteristic cheeky-chappie lilt. The former two-weight world champion, though, has been thriving during lockdown. “I’ve lost a bit of weight, I’m fitter, and I’ve been able to see my kids.”
The period reminds him of the camps when he would shed 20lb to get down to 10st as a ferocious body-punching fighter.
“The way I’m getting my head round this whole thing is that when I was fighting, I used to have 12 weeks of training camp. I did it my entire career. I was dieting, training, couldn’t have a bit of alcohol or chocolate. It’s a bit like that and I did that three times a year, so this is nothing new to me,” explains the 41-year-old, who has been through dark times since his career ended eight years ago.
“The only thing that concerns me are family members and kids and friends, and what’s going on out there. I can cope with staying in, but it is a worrying time. I’m hoping the next couple of days Boris [Johnson] is going to give us a little light at the end of the tunnel so we know what’s going on.
“I’d like them to fill in what the next steps are. If they said to me, we’re going to be stuck like this for the next seven weeks, I’d rather them tell us. Then we can get our minds set. We’re left in limbo a bit.”
Hatton was always resourceful: with his skills, his stories, even the legendary binge drinking between fights, and he is as much loved now as in his pomp, in resounding fights with Kostya Tszyu – the height of his success – and later in the high-profile sojourn to the United States for nights against Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao, more than a decade ago. But this is another era. Times have changed.
Hatton, now training fighters and a valued member inside Tyson Fury’s fight-night dressing room, having also trained Fury’s younger brother Tommy, has his own thoughts on the return of boxing.
“I think boxing events, sports events, pubs and bars – anything with large gatherings – they’ll be the last to come back. I’ve told my fighters to do a little bit of training. If the minute it does get lifted you’re halfway there in terms of fitness, you’ve got a better chance of getting a fight. If you’re coming in stones overweight into the gym like I used to do you’re not going to get one.
“Even though I was able to get away with it, people knew it wasn’t good for me. I probably could have got more out of myself performance-wise and maybe even a few more years if I’d lived the life better and looked after my body more. But if you asked me would I change anything about it? I wouldn’t change a thing because that’s what it was.
“I was fat and went to the pub, but I had the fan base. If I had gone to bed at seven every night like a Buddhist monk, I don’t think I would have had the following. As for training, that’s what I tell all my fighters. Bed at 7pm. Do as I say, not as I do.”
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Hatton knows boxing inside out, nuts, bolts and all, and the one thing he insists we must see before too long is Fury against Anthony Joshua.
“In Fury and Joshua we’ve got one and two in the world in the most high-profile division. Different styles and personalities. It must happen. The only reason these fights don’t happen are rival promoters and TV companies. ‘AJ’ will say he has all the belts, and Tyson will say he is the lineal champion. We know how the game works. It’s up to the TV, promoters and everyone who is in the pot to decide if it’s worth their while to give him what he needs. We can’t answer that. Only they will know. It’s about everyone being sensible and not any individual being greedy.”
This lucid, happy Hatton is forever bolstered by British fans. It “means everything” to him that he is among Britain’s most popular fighters.
“My best win was Kostya Tszyu. I fought Mayweather and Pacquiao, two of the best pound-for-pound fighters maybe of all time. Even though I lost those, 40,000 people went over for the Mayweather fight. But my greatest achievement was always the fan base. It doesn’t matter how much money you have in the bank or how many belts you have in the trophy cabinet, to know how people feel about me still to this day, how can that not be my greatest ever achievement? It’s end of the rainbow stuff.
“Once I hung the gloves up that’s probably why I had bad times, because once you experience 60,000 people in Manchester and 40,000 people in Vegas, it’s very hard to replace.”
It is well documented that Hatton struggled mentally and contemplated suicide.
“That’s why I feel very proud to be working with Frank Bruno now on mental health, because I can use my bad experiences to help others. People saw my rise and downfall right in front of their eyes.”
Hatton is laughing again. “I put some of the worst stuff you’ve ever seen on social media, but it makes people laugh. That’s what you’ve got to do in times like this. We’re all in the same boat. If I put one quote or post on social media and it works, that’s what I’m here for. I’m an ambassador because I nearly wasn’t here.”