Ricky Hatton discusses mental strength
27 March 2024
One of the best-attended seminar sessions at the recent Speedy Hire Live Expo 24 event in Liverpool was an interview with Ricky Hatton MBE, the hugely popular former boxer who held multiple world championships at light-welterweight and one at welterweight, amongst other achievements in the ring.
Interviewed by David Sedgwick, Senior Marketing Manager with Speedy, Ricky spoke with insight and humility about his professional career from the age of 18 in 1997, as well as the personal challenges he faced following his retirement in 2012.
Ricky, who was brought up on a council estate in Hyde, Greater Manchester, spoke of the surreal experience of having his first professional fight at a leisure centre in Widnes, and his second a matter of weeks later at the famous Madison Square Garden venue in New York.
Defeats against Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2007 and Manny Pacquiao in 2009 took a heavy toll on Ricky’s well-being, and soon after he fell out with his trainer, his parents and his then partner.
Ricky said that retirement meant he had gone from “all boxing to no boxing” and he struggled to cope, ultimately leading to him attempting to take his own life. It was going to his doctor and talking about his feelings that set him on the road to recovery.
“I had tried to shut it all out from my friends and family,” he said. “People knew I was suffering but not the extent of it.
“My advice to anyone who may feel things are going wrong for them is to go and see someone who can help. Don’t be ashamed that you can’t do it yourself, it’s the best thing you’ll do.”
Ricky, who now works as a trainer and is involved with numerous charity initiatives, said that his greatest career highlight was attracting his extraordinarily devoted and loyal fan base, with tens of thousands even travelling across the Atlantic to support him.
Speedy Hire supports several mental health programmes including the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity's ‘Make it Visible’ campaign. Asif Latief, Speedy’s Chief Commercial Officer, also spearheads ‘United for Mental Strength’, the industry-wide initiative mentioned previously on the blog.
Photo: Alan Guthrie
