After news broke yesterday, the 14th of September, about the tragic death of beloved boxing legend Ricky Hatton, many have spoken about their difficulties with hearing the story.
Hatton was a former world champion who fought some of the best of his generation, including Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. He was also a person who was open to discussing his own demons in the past, which included mental health problems, alcoholism, and other addictions.
BBC boxing expert, Steve Bunce, who was a good friend of Hatton, spoke on BBC 5 Live just moments after hearing the news that the body of the 46-year-old was discovered at his home in Hyde. He told Steve Crossman: “It’s an unbelievably shocking piece of news because he was in a really good place.
“He’s had some troubles, Rick. I mean, he’s talked about his mental health problems, he’s talked about his addictions; he’s addressed them, faced them and attacked them and solved them,” Bunce revealed, before going on to say what The Hitman had planned for the future.
“He was preparing for an exhibition fight; like it is for so many fighters, the gym’s been his salvation. He was getting his body and his head in a better place.”
Bunce went on to say that, according to some people, the boxing hero hadn’t shown up to a couple of planned visits to the gym and a boxing event on Saturday. It was these no-shows that caused concern.
“Apparently, talking to people, he didn’t show up on Friday at the gym, and he was meant to be at a fight last night, and he didn’t show up, and someone went to his house this morning… It is shocking news.”
Ricky Hatton’s Struggles Well Documented
Following his retirement, Hatton made headlines for a number of different reasons, including being seen taking cocaine, and the news that he was an avid user of the class a drug. However, it seemed that he had tamed all of his difficulties, and as well as the exhibition fight he had planned for the end of the year, he also had a promotional company, in which he helped promote world champions like Zhanat Zhakiyanov, as well as being involved in training fighters like Tyson Fury, Nathan Gorman, and the aforementioned Zhakiyanov.
These have made the news even more difficult, as Bunce told Crossman: “Had it been 10 years ago, when he talked openly about considering ending his life, had it been 10 years ago when he was in one of the darkest places any man can be, it would have been, I guess, understandable, but at the moment, I’m genuinely shocked by it. I mean, genuinely, I’m amazed by it.”