Ricky Hatton Had Wanted To Kill After Losing To Floyd Mayweather And Manny Pacquiao

British boxer Ricky Hatton. (Photo: Twitter @Hitman Hatton)

JAKARTA Former boxer Ricky Hatton once wanted to kill himself after he suffered a loss to two boxing legends, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

When he lost, the 44-year-old boxer was at the top of the world as the lightweight welterweight world champion IBO and The Ring.

He moved up to the welterweight and was stopped by Mayweather in 2007, then handed over his world title to Pacquiao two years later.

After the two defeats, Hatton had to struggle with his mental health. To the point that he felt he wanted to commit suicide when he felt his life was so broken.

"In my own mind, I think everyone is laughing at me after losing to Mayweather. I feel ashamed," he said.

Things got worse after also suffering defeat when they met Pacquiao. After suffering those two defeats, he even fought with his parents and coach Billy Graham.

"I wanted to kill myself. It was eating away at me. I don't care whether I live or die. I think, everything is over for me," said Hatton.

"No boxing, no parents can be spoken to, no Billy Graham can be spoken to. After the defeat to Pacquiao is the worst time," he continued.

Hatton returned for his last professional fight in 2012. However, he again suffered a knockout defeat (KO) against Vyacheslav Senchenko in his hometown.

After that, he entered the most difficult times because he fell into substance abuse including alcohol and medicine. It was also getting more serious depression before aid and fortunately it could change his life.

After successfully getting out of difficult times, Hatton decided to become an advocate. Since then, he has started encouraging people to talk about the importance of mental health.

"Mental health is very important. I made up with Mother and Father and Billy Graham. Look at all those beautiful things. If I kill myself, look what I will miss," he said.