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GUYANA CHRONICLE Friday, December 30, 2016
Former World Champion Ricky Hatton battling with depression …. tried to kill himself
EX-WORLD champion Ricky Hatton says he tried to kill himself on several occasions in a battle with depression. The Briton also talked about the need for boxers to get more help after retiring, when he appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today show, guest-edited by Olympic boxing champion Nicola Adams. “I tried to kill myself several times,” said Hatton, 38, who retired in 2012. “I used to go to the pub, come back, take the knife out and sit there in the dark crying hysterically.” Manchester’s Hatton, who previously spoke to the BBC in 2011 about attempted suicide and depression, won the world light-welterweight and welterweight titles. Hatton was stripped of his licence to box in 2010 after admitting using cocaine and retired the next year before fighting once more. He is now a promoter and trainer. He continued: “There were
times when I hadn’t had a drink for days and I’d still come home and if something went through my mind I’d start pondering something. It was the same outcome whether I was having a drink or wasn’t having a drink. “But in the end I thought I’ll end up drinking myself to death because I was so miserable. “I was coming off the rails with my drinking and that led to drugs. It was like a runaway train. “More should be done to help boxers.” RICKY HATTON’S CAREER Born Stockport, October 6, 1978 Turns pro in 1997 21 fights unbeaten and becomes British light-welterweight champion in 2000. Wins WBU light-welterweight title in 2001. Stops IBF light-welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu in Manchester in 2005.
Points-victory over Luis Collazo in 2006 sees him become WBA welterweight champion. Awarded an MBE but loses first fight, knocked out by Floyd Mayweather Jr in December 2007. Beats Juan Lazcano and Paulie Malignaggi in 2008 but knocked out by Manny Pacquiao in May 2009. Retires in July 2011. Fights once more - against Vyacheslav Senchenko - in November 2012, but loses and retires again. Former world champion Barry McGuigan told BBC Radio 5 live in October that boxing authorities should fund a new foundation to help fighters with mental health issues. And Hatton feels “more should be done for boxers” with depression, with exworld champions Tyson Fury and Frank Bruno among other Britons to have suffered with the illness. “Footballers have an agent who looks out for them and a
Ricky Hatton was knocked out by Floyd Mayweather Jr. football club that gets behind them. The Football Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) can also be there,” added Hatton. “Whereas boxers, it’s like once your time has gone it’s ‘on your way’ and move on to the next champion coming through. “The thing is with boxers, we don’t come from Cambridge and places like that. We come from council estates. So in boxing it’s very, very hard. If boxing had a professional boxing association or something like that, I think it would be a better place.
“It seems to be happening more with boxers. It’s an individual sport so you get in the ring on your own and then when you retire you tend to spend the rest of your life on your own.” WHAT FURY SAID WAS HEARTBREAKING Fury vacated his WBO and WBA world heavyweight titles in October to deal with his “medical treatment and recovery”. The Briton, 28, admitted taking cocaine to deal with depression and has not fought since beating Wladimir Klitsc-
hko in November 2015. Hatton said he contacted Fury to see if he was all right but said he never got a reply. “Tyson is a very complex person. When he said what he said it was heartbreaking,” added Hatton. “To think Tyson had become the heavyweight champion of the world and should kick on with his life and his career and for it to go pearshaped was a real crying shame. “Having said that, he doesn’t help himself in some interviews. If he is in a bad place and is depressed, I hope he’s speaking to the right people in order to sort it out. “As boxers we don’t do that. We think, ‘I’m Ricky Hatton or I’m Tyson Fury, I can take on the world’. You can take on the world in the ring but this problem called depression, you can’t take it on. “We’re out of our comfort zones with depression. I certainly was and whenever I have bad days now I speak to someone to get it off my chest. I have no shame telling that and that’s why I’m here today.”
Gillespie named Langer’s assistant for Sri Lanka T20s JASON GILLESPIE will join Justin Langer as Australia’s interim coaching duo to oversee the three Twenty20 internationals against Sri Lanka that conflict with preparations for the Test tour of India. Langer (Perth Scorchers) and Gillespie (Adelaide Strikers) are both coaches in the Big Bash League, and the team performance manager Pat Howard said he was hopeful they would duly be able to take a strong T20 mindset into the job while Darren Lehmann and David Saker are minding the Test side in the UAE and India. “Jason has significant experience as a coach around the world and with his skillset, we believe he and Justin
will work well together,” Howard said. “With Jason’s appointment alongside Justin, it means that not only will we have two terrific home-grown coaches to oversee the side
Jason Gillespie
but also that we have two individuals who will be coming off the sharp end of the BBL season. “It means they’ll be immersed in the T20 format
ahead of the series which will hopefully help them to help us hit the ground running when the action gets underway.” Gillespie, who has been
a successful all-format coach of Yorkshire over the past five years, said he was particularly eager to work with Langer, a former Australia teammate. “For me, the chance to be working with Justin Langer is terrific,” Gillespie said. “Of course he’s a friend and a former teammate, but he’s also someone who’s had success in this form of the game and if I can learn anything from him and his approach then that would be great. “I’m there to support and hopefully play my part in achieving some positive results for us and that is something that is important because Australia haven’t had the success any of us would like in T20 cricket. A series
like this is the ideal way for us to try and get better and refine our approach. “With some players likely to be away in India it really will be a shop window for players from the BBL to showcase their skills, and to show the selectors and the Australian public what they can do. It’s a chance for those selectors to see how, in the case of any new players, they deal with international cricket.” The three T20 matches are at the MCG on February 17, Kardinia Park in Geelong on February 19 and Adelaide Oval on February 22. The Adelaide match takes place the day before the start of the first Test in India. (Cricinfo)