Exclusive with Ricky Hatton: “Ryan Garcia’s Mind and His Problems”

---

Former world champion and boxing legend Ricky ‘’The Hitman’’ Hatton opens up on his inspirations into boxing and how the Floyd Mayweather defeat changed him for the better.

He also predicts the blockbuster heavyweight bouts between Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois and Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk II, whilst addressing Ryan Garcia’s recent downward spiral following his ban from boxing.

Speaking to Prime Casino, Hatton said: 

• Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Leonard and Muhammad Ali inspired me to be an elite fighter
• Losing to Floyd Mayweather changed me for the better
• Ryan Garcia is losing his mind and needs to address his problems
• Wins in sparring don’t matter, Anthony Johua beats Dubois!
• The criticism since Fury’s loss to Usyk is unfair – let the man live!
• Tyson Fury Wins Usyk rematch but John Fury is too chaotic for his camp
• Hatton Vs Mayweather II would sell out in an hour, not this John Gotti III 3rd fight!

Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Leonard and Muhammad Ali inspired me to be an elite fighter

When I first laced up the gloves on a council estate in Manchester I was ten years old and I was watching the likes of Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Leonard and Muhammad Ali to name but a few, so the fact that my name has gone down in the Hall of Fame alongside these fighters is absolutely incredible. But if you’re going to ask me what it takes to get to that level, what does it take to get to the very top? You have to be able to tick every box from a boxing point of view. Firstly you’ve got to have the ability and you’ve got to have the heart, there’s no point of having the ability if you haven’t got the heart, and there’s no point of having the heart if you haven’t got ability. You’re not going to get to the very, very elite on heart alone, you need to have a good boxing brain. But the main thing that helped me to perform at the highest level was my self belief. 

I won a world title because I believed in myself despite what they said about me. When I was coming up in Manchester as a good prospect they used to say ‘yeah, he sells a lot of tickets, he’s very exciting but his defence is a bit leaky, he gets cut every time he fights, I’m not sure he’s going to get to the top’. This opinion wasn’t from the odd person, this was pretty much every article that I read about myself at the time – and I used that as my fuel. I wanted to prove them wrong.  And then when I won my world title against the pound for pound number two Kostya Tszyu, everybody had me getting knocked out. It used to infuriate me. I thought – was I missing something here because I had huge self belief in winning that fight. 

Losing to Floyd Mayweather changed me, I bounced back and beat the likes of Paulie Malignaggi and Kosta Tszyu

I kept the faith in my ability and in my confidence and my gameplan. This applies not only in boxing but in every walk of life, you need to have huge self belief in yourself, then when people start to knock you, you won’t crumble. 

That’s why I got to where I got. I think that mindset that I developed early on helped me in my career and when I first got defeated by Floyd Mayweather for the first time, it was absolutely devastating. I felt like chucking it in but I came back and I won my title back against Paulie Malignaggi and went on to fight Manny Pacquiao. I got beat up at school but I wouldn’t let it beat me, I got knocked out by Floyd Mayweather but I came back. 

Some of the greatest fighters that ever lived have been beaten by fighters who just wanted it more than them. I was able to beat fighters that were better than me, more talented than me, more ability than me because I would dedicate myself to studying fighters. I studied tapes over and over again to get the game plan together. Kostya Tszyu was more talented than me, but I had a good game plan and I came in shape. And when I stepped up seven pounds to fight Luis Collazo, a naturally bigger man, I came out on top again because of heart and my gameplan. It’s self belief and dedication. 

Ryan Garcia is losing his mind and needs to address his problems

We were thinking ‘has Ryan flipped his lid’ or ‘has he the plot here’ before the Devin Haney fight. And then he put on that great performance again, so we were then thinking he had fooled us all. He’s kidded the world. But then in the aftermath with the drug ban and the stuff on social media after the fight, it didn’t look right. The best thing he’s done was admitting to himself that he has mental health problems. You can’t lie to yourself.  And that’s what he’s done, he’s said he’s suffered from mental health and had a tough time with it. If he had stayed there and kept it to himself, he could have ended up in a very bad place.

He’s got 12 months to get the ban out the way and get his head right, he’ll come back from the break stronger. When I got beat by Mayweather, I ballooned up in weight and everyone said ‘that’s the end of Ricky Hatton, he won’t be back’. And I thought ‘I’ll show you’. So in my next fight I came out in a fat suit, that was my two fingers up to everyone who thought I couldn’t do it. And if Ryan Garcia has got the same about him – people are saying he’s had a drug ban, mental health problems, he won’t come back the same – but if he’s the champion that I think he is, he’ll want to come back and ram it down everyone’s throat after 12 months. That’s my advice to him, get yourself right. Nevermind the money, nevermind the boxing, it’s all about you and if you get yourself right, then you can go back to that. 

Wins in sparring don’t matter, Anthony Johua beats Dubois!

It’s all a mind game, you’d have to have been there at the time to see how heavy the knockdown was. It could have been a slip or it could have been a full-blown knockdown and he was shaken up. If it was that, I think it would leave a little bit of a mark, definitely. But we’ve all been put down in sparring, we’ve all been shook up a bit. That’s part and parcel boxing but it might leave a mark. If it was me then I would think ‘I’m going to get my own back on you’. That’s my attitude. There will be some people who will be thinking s*** this guy knocked me down before, but I don’t think AJ falls into that bracket. He’s an Olympic gold medalist and he’s been a unified world champion. I don’t think a knockdown would have damaged him too much. 

I think AJ beats Daniel, he’s bigger than Daniel for a start and that’s saying something because Daniel is a beast of a fighter. But AJ’s got his confidence back now. You can also say that about Daniel after his last couple of fights. It’s the perfect time for this fight, both of them are in great form, I think AJ’s got a little bit more in his armoury, he’s got a little bit more boxing ability and he seems to be much more looser under bed Davidson, he’s throwing his punches with a lot more snap these days. Having said that, Daniel only needs one punch. It’s one of those fights where if Daniel landed and knocked AJ out it wouldn’t surprise me, but AJ could outbox Daniel early and then knock him out and I think that’s where my money would go. 

The Criticism since Fury’s loss to Usyk is unfair – let the man live!

I think the criticism of Tyson has been unfair. I mean it doesn’t look good when he’s on his hands and knees to be honest, but I’ve been there loads of times, but everyone just assumes he’s in a bad place. Listen, let him fall on his hands and knees and let him go out. How long was he in that training camp for? He did two or three camps back to back with the cut. Let him blow off a bit of steam. I don’t like what I read about him really suffering with his defeat, yes he would have been gutted, but don’t kick him when he’s down. It’s disgusting. He’s been in a massive training camp, he’s letting his hair down and he’s fallen over, and someone is there with the camera taking the p***. Let him have a pint. What do people expect, to get beaten by Usyk and then get straight back in the gym?

Tyson Fury Wins Usyk rematch but John Fury is too chaotic for his camp

My money’s on Tyson in the rematch. I think he’ll change the game plan. He was back pedalling away so fast when Usyk was coming forward he lost all of his power. He had no leverage going backwards. If he holds his feet, I don’t think Usyk would be so keen to come forward.

I don’t think the family can condone what John did. He doesn’t bring calm, I know Tyson likes that bravado, but I can’t see how it would be good for the camp, he doesn’t have an easing or soothing effect nutting someone from the opposing camp, I love John and he’d be the first person to say it looking back in hindsight. How many of us have made a mistake looking back in hindsight?  I think you do need a little bit of calm, never mind Tyson, that must have stressed the whole family out. You don’t want to see your dad or grandad have a scrap with someone. For the sake of the family, for the sake of Tyson, I think John will probably look at that and say that’s probably not one of my best nights. 

Hatton Vs Mayweather II would sell out in an hour, not this John Gotti III 3rd fight!

No doubt our tickets would have sold out. I sell out wherever I go, I wouldn’t need Mayweather to sell out a fight, but if it was with Floyd then without doubt the tickets would have gone. Although I don’t know if an exhibition would work between me and Floyd,  I don’t know if there’s too much under the table and too much bad blood. I was p***** off at the referee in our fight, I thought he was s***. I’m not saying I would have beaten Floyd anyway because it’s Floyd Mayweather, but there was an understanding between me and Marco that this was an exhibition. Marco is a respectful person and so am I. But I don’t think there would be that ‘wink, wink, nudge, nudge’ between me and Floyd. But it would sell out in an hour.