LONDON - Ricky Hatton has revealed how close he came to suicide during his three-year break from boxing, as he prepares to relaunch his career with a fight next month.
The 34-year-old, who won world titles at both welterweight and light-welterweight, slipped into depression after a brutal second-round knockout by Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao in his last fight in May 2009.
He has revealed that, during the worst bouts of the illness, his girlfriend had to take a knife from him to stop him hurting himself.
"I was near to a nervous breakdown; depression, suicidal," he told BBC Radio Five Live on Sunday.
"Most mornings my girlfriend would have to come downstairs and take a knife out of my hand. I had a knife at my wrists, I was in a really bad way, just hysterically crying for no reason.
"I've always liked a little bit of a drink, but my drinking had gone way off the Richter scale. I was having blackouts.
"And even if I was stone cold sober, I was trying to kill myself."
Hatton will return to the ring against Vyacheslav Senchenko of Ukraine at the Manchester Evening News Arena on November 24.
Hatton delves into suicidal days
LONDON - Ricky Hatton has revealed how close he came to suicide during his three-year break from boxing, as he prepares to relaunch his career with a fight next month.
The 34-year-old, who won world titles at both welterweight and light-welterweight, slipped into depression after a brutal second-round knockout by Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao in his last fight in May 2009.
He has revealed that, during the worst bouts of the illness, his girlfriend had to take a knife from him to stop him hurting himself.
"I was near to a nervous breakdown; depression, suicidal," he told BBC Radio Five Live on Sunday.
"Most mornings my girlfriend would have to come downstairs and take a knife out of my hand. I had a knife at my wrists, I was in a really bad way, just hysterically crying for no reason.
"I've always liked a little bit of a drink, but my drinking had gone way off the Richter scale. I was having blackouts.
"And even if I was stone cold sober, I was trying to kill myself."
Hatton will return to the ring against Vyacheslav Senchenko of Ukraine at the Manchester Evening News Arena on November 24.