Ricky Hatton sunk 25 pints in a day in depths of cocaine-fuelled binges
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Ricky Hatton has revealed how he sunk 25 pints of Guinness a day plus spirits in the depths of his cocaine-fuelled binges.
‘The Hitman’, 44, has also admitted for the first time he only started using coke as it gave him the ability to sink more stout and hard liquor.
He turned to drink and drugs to numb the pain of his retirement from boxing after his dazzling ring career came to an agonising end in May 2009 with a devastating second round knockout by Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas.
Ricky – cruelly branded ‘Ricky Fatton’ when his weight ballooned in between fights due to his boozing – told the 30846676 in an exclusive interview from his Manchester mansion how he spiralled into addictions as he battled to recreate the buzz of his boxing bouts.
READ MORE: Depressed Ricky Hatton told psychiatrist 'I'll kill myself' after run of defeats
He admitted: “I took cocaine – I never took heroin. It was in many ways it was tough times. I was taking drugs, but I think the drinking was more of a problem, and I think I was taking a line to keep me drinking.”
When asked to describe his worst day of boozing, Ricky initially recoiled at putting a number on the amount of drinks he would sink – as his binges would often last 36 hours.
The former world champion and dad-of-three said: “I wouldn’t like to say to be honest with you – it would be horrific.
“It would be drinking from 12 in the afternoon to 4 in the morning or 6 in the morning or something like that.”
He then admitted: “You’re talking about 30 drinks aren’t you? That’s horrific. And you’re having the drugs so you can drink more.
“A normal person – you’d be finished by 1 or 2 in the morning or something like that, and you’d have a decent drink. But a few times I was going for a day-and-a-half.
“I was really a beer drinker, but then I started to get a little bit bloated because I was a Guinness drinker.
“To be honest with you, before I went on to my spirits I would do 25 pints of Guinness all day long, before the shots. And I was having bits of lines here and there to keep me going.”
Ricky had his son Campbell, 22, when he was in his early 20s and shares daughters Millie, 11, and Fearne, 10, with his ex-fiancée Jennifer Dooley, 44.
Jennifer stuck by him when he started to go off the rails after he hung up his gloves, but left when his drinking and partying spiralled into chaos.
In one of his saddest admissions, Ricky said he decided to drink himself to death as he didn’t have the guts to slash his wrists.
He also said he desperately fought to keep his mental health woes and all-day crying sessions from his loved ones and pals as he didn’t want them to “worry” or think he was a “weirdo”.
“People, when they hear you’ve got mental health issues, they think you’ve lost the plot or something,” Ricky added.
“For ladies, they’re more likely to share it, but for men, you can’t just tell someone, ‘Give me five minutes of your time – I want to kill myself and I’ve been crying all day.’ You don’t, do you?”
He added about trying to end his life when he was at his lowest: “I’d come in and get a knife to my wrist, and I’d be crying and sobbing all the time.
“I was giving myself panic attacks. I thought they were heart attacks.
“I didn’t have the confidence to slit my wrists, and when my ex (Jennifer) would come in, I’d put a brave face on because I didn’t want her to worry, and I didn’t want my mum and dad to worry.
“And I didn’t want to share it with my mates because I didn’t want my mates thinking I was a weirdo.”
Ricky finally got help by checking into rehab.
But he told us it was a “waste of time” as his carers constantly brushed off his case as alcoholism.
Ricky finally got some of the help he needed at former England football captain Tony Adams’ Sporting Chance rehab and therapy facility.
Ricky’s rollercoaster life has also seen him cut off all contact with his parents Ray and Carol for eight years.
The feud came after he discovered his father had stashed a fortune of his boxing cash in an account he told his son nothing about.
He also had a tragic falling out with his “best pal” and father figure trainer Billy ‘The Preacher’ Graham.
He took the Hattons to court for allegedly withholding wages – ending in a £1.4million settlement.
Ricky’s rise from a council estate in Hattersley to landing multiple light-welterweight and welterweight world championship titles has now been immortalised in the new documentary Hatton, which aired on Sky last week.
- Ricky Hatton
- Exclusives
- Boxing
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