Disgraced. Drunk. Drug addled.
Last the general boxing public saw Ricky Hatton in action was May 2009 on the bad end of a Manny Pacquiao left hook which left the ?Hitman? floored and near unconscious.
Brian Doogan of Times Online put it best:
?The 30-year-old Filipino, a rare amalgam of brutal power and virtuoso artistry, dominated his bigger opponent with speedier, more precise, explosive punches which reduced the 30-year-old from Manchester to a stumbling, impotent, overwhelmed version of the proud fighter who had marched to the ring with a record of 46 wins, 32 by stoppage, against just one previous defeat.?
Stumbling, impotent and overwhelmed, where would Hatton go from there?
There were the reports that Hatton was starting his own promotions company following the fight and those looking closely during the Shane Mosley- Floyd Mayweather weigh-in could see a pale, bloated Hatton hovering in the back ground of the festivities.
Then earlier this month photos were released showing Hatton snorting coke in a hotel room.
Shamed. Suffering. Humiliating.
But surprising? Really?
Before the Pacquiao fight, Hatton was reveled as much for his caution to the wind outside the ring as he was for it inside.
Hatton, when not training, would join his fans, friends and family in the bar, downing pints and getting fat.
Ricky Fatton was, in tribute, his out-of-the-ring persona.
It is what personified the Hatton phenomenon: Forget your bling and the rest of your gaudy trinkets Mayweather, we have Hatton, down in the trenches, ready to drink and join in revelry with the common man.
Walking in a Hatton wonderland.
Now all we can focus on is the snow.
Lets refer back to a story put out after Hatton lost his first fight, a battle in December of 2008 with Floyd Mayweather which found Hatton walking defenseless into a check hook in the 10th round, hit and knocked out by the turnbuckle.
Hatton would get up, but not last long.
The undefeated record gone, how would Hatton heal his wounds physically and mentally?
According to the Daily Mail by going on a bender consisting of ?57 pints in four days.?
Classic Hatton overindulgence: party when your down to get you back up.
?Ricky Hatton took a hammering in his world title fight ? so for the New Year he decided to get hammered again,? the article read. ?Over four days in Tenerife, the boxing hero dubbed The Hitman drained Spain with a binge that would have floored all opponents.?
The mythological praise for the Dionysian excess of Hatton did not end there.
?Everywhere, fans begged to buy him a drink. Bar staff waved away his attempts to pay. Round One began on Friday. Ricky downed six pints of lager near his flat. He then sank another three lagers, six pints of Guinness and five vodka and Red Bulls in Tramp nightclub. Round Two the next day saw Ricky supping another six lagers in preparation for a night out at The Dubliner. There, he polished off seven pints of Guinness, two pints of rum and the alcopop WKD, three whisky chasers, and three vodka and Red Bulls. Before the boxer finally stumbled into a taxi at 3am, a witness said: ?He was bladdered, totally blotto ? but still an absolute gent.? Did noone see that the exessive habits of binge drinking Ricky or binge eating Ricky might lead to occasional drug-dabbling Hatton? Everyone pitfalls but the standards and lifestyles of our heros are elevated to god-like.
That?s what made Hatton so refreshing, he was a god among men.
Now it seems the illusion is gone, his excesses are not that of a god but of a man, beaten in the ring and out.
The excesses are no longer funny or cute and the Hatton wonderland has slipped down the rabbit hole.
