Pacquiao feels sad over Hatton’s drug problems
MANILA, Philippines—Manny Pacquiao said Tuesday he feels “sad” for former IBO light welterweight champion Ricky Hatton, who was seen sniffing cocaine on video and later admitted he was depressed and troubled.
Pacquiao said he hopes Hatton, who has agreed to undergo rehabilitation, will change his ways.
“With great power comes great responsibility, and if you don’t balance that, you will not succeed,” said the Filipino ring superstar.
British media reports said the former world champion, known as “The Hitman,” had felt depressed after his stunning brutal second-round knockout at the hands of Pacquiao in May last year.
Pacquiao said Hatton and others like him need to “take care of their lives, their future and their families because in the end its all up to us.”
“Being a boxer, it is not easy to accept when you lose, but that’s sports,” the Pacman said. “You are not going to win all the time. Sometimes you lose and you must learn to accept that.”
He recalled he almost quit after absorbing his first loss—a third-round knockout at the hands of flyweight Rustico Torrecampo— “because I was depressed.”
“But I realized that it was up to me to try,” Pacquiao said, adding it was “God’s guidance” that helped him regain his focus.
“There will always be problems, no matter big or small,” he said. “But I always say, ‘Don’t tell God you have a big problem. Tell your problems you have a great God.’”
Pacquiao appeared reluctant to talk about Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s problems with the law on a charge of beating the mother of his three children in her home last Sept. 9.
Mayweather recently hurled racist remarks at the Filipino ring superstar whom he also described as a “minor champion.”
“You know, people who are on top, God will bring down and those who are down, God will lift up,” he said.
Pacquiao said he hopes Hatton, who has agreed to undergo rehabilitation, will change his ways.
“With great power comes great responsibility, and if you don’t balance that, you will not succeed,” said the Filipino ring superstar.
British media reports said the former world champion, known as “The Hitman,” had felt depressed after his stunning brutal second-round knockout at the hands of Pacquiao in May last year.
Pacquiao said Hatton and others like him need to “take care of their lives, their future and their families because in the end its all up to us.”
“Being a boxer, it is not easy to accept when you lose, but that’s sports,” the Pacman said. “You are not going to win all the time. Sometimes you lose and you must learn to accept that.”
He recalled he almost quit after absorbing his first loss—a third-round knockout at the hands of flyweight Rustico Torrecampo— “because I was depressed.”
“But I realized that it was up to me to try,” Pacquiao said, adding it was “God’s guidance” that helped him regain his focus.
“There will always be problems, no matter big or small,” he said. “But I always say, ‘Don’t tell God you have a big problem. Tell your problems you have a great God.’”
Pacquiao appeared reluctant to talk about Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s problems with the law on a charge of beating the mother of his three children in her home last Sept. 9.
Mayweather recently hurled racist remarks at the Filipino ring superstar whom he also described as a “minor champion.”
“You know, people who are on top, God will bring down and those who are down, God will lift up,” he said.
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