There’s a saying:
“The good die young.“
And in Ricky Hatton’s case, it certainly applies.
You didn’t even have to be a fan of boxing to warm to Ricky as he was
the people’s champion. Outside the ring he was one of the boys, never
taking himself too seriously and when he was boxing you WANTED him to win.
30,000 fans followed him to America when he fought Floyd Mayweather
and I can’t think of any other British fighter that had that kind of following,
where people would stump up cash and fly to the US just to support him.
Tragically it looks like mental demons got the better of him and we lost
Ricky to suicide, although I haven’t seen any 100% confirmed report to
that effect, reading between the lines this is what happened and at just
46 years of age he’s no longer with us. #badtimes
People are committing suicide all too often in our society and in my
opinion for this to happen, something is fundamentally broken.
There aren’t many people that haven’t lost someone close to them in this way.
My friends sister took her own life nearly 10 years ago. She was only
in her 40’s. When I was a teenager/early 20’s his family were like my
family to me and for 2-3 years their house was the nearest I got to
a second home.
She was just the nicest person and never had a bad word to say about anyone.
Once you lose them, nothing you can do will bring them back. The finality of
loss is the hardest thing to take.
I had another friend, who I wasn’t close to in later years, but we all used to
go out drinking and I even went to his wedding. Back then, if I’d had to place
a bet I would have said as a couple, they were the nearest thing to a perfect partner
marriage I’d witnessed.
The kind where they really should have lived happily ever after.
He hit the bottle, choosing vodka as the road to ruin and in less
than 5 years he also drank so much that his body packed up on him.
He had no idea that this was going to be his fate as he was still
working at the time he was admitted to hospital, where they
told him he had 4 weeks max left to live. He lasted 3 and he
was also only in his forties.
Your liver is an amazing organ capable of rapid regeneration but if you keep
hitting it until the last cells are wiped out, it stops working and your body
becomes consumed by toxins it can’t address.
Drinking like that is a form of self destruction and there’s not a lot
you can do about it unless they either get help or realise that they
need to quit before it’s too late.
As I write this post, there is someone else I grew up with, in hospital now because
of drink. The other week the doctors said she only had 4 hours left to live and her
family prepared for the worst. So far she has defied the odds and the only hope is
that continues, but the problem with drink is people return to it.
Having a few beers or glasses of wine with friends at the weekend is one thing
and at a social level it’s enjoyable.
One thing I do know though is that no answers to happiness and health have
ever been found inside a bottle. Alcohol can be a slave that becomes the master
and once that happens you are dealing with an illness.
My grandfather was an alcoholic. He must have spent 30-40 years of his life drinking
20 pints a day. To do that he must have had the constitution of a bull, but is it a way to live?
His wife, who was my fathers mum, died when my dad was 4 and I don’t think he
ever came to terms with it. People didn’t talk about things like that much then.
They still don’t talk enough about it now.
As I write this I have other friends who are struggling. It’s a tough thing, mental health.
All you can do is have compassion and listen. Sometimes that may be the thing
that makes the difference.
Ricky Hatton ripping off the mortal coil is a great loss to boxing, but at a
human level it’s an even greater loss. As a fan I will miss his down to earth
nature and his sense of humour.
Hatton was a man of the people in the truest sense.
Thanks for reading – the next post will be filled with more levity 🙂
Let’s play this one out with “Hurt” by Johnny Cash. I always find this
hard to listen to but it’s a powerful song…