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But there are some knockouts that cannot be resisted and the aftermath can be horrific.<\/p>\n
The strains of a rendition of Rule Britannia from his travelling army of fans had just died away when a crunching left hand from Pacquiao floored Hatton.<\/p>\n
It took him a good couple of minutes to get back to his feet. The after-effects lasted a lot longer. Hatton suffered terribly with depression in the wake of his knockout – he was suicidal and attempted to kill himself ‘several times’.<\/a><\/p>\n “People would say: ‘What’s he got to be depressed about? Yeah he got beat by Pacquiao, but, look, he’s got a nice house, he’s got a nice car, he’s got this, he’s got that, what does he need to be worried about?’ But they don’t realise the state it leaves you in,” says Hatton.<\/p>\n “When you’re a fighter and a winner, you have to have that belief in yourself and that attitude that no-one can beat you, that you’re the best.<\/p>\n “If you’re a proud, proud man, a proud boxing champion, you know, it doesn’t matter what you put in the bank and how big your house is, it messes you up a bit.”<\/p>\n The emphatic manner of the Pacquiao loss cut deep. It was crippling. That is what the knockout can do, the effect it can have. It can steal a vital part of the defeated fighter.<\/p>\n Physiologically what is happening in that moment is easier to explain.<\/p>\n “It varies from person to person. But essentially an impact causes a shift or movement of the brain within the skull,” says Scott.<\/p>\n “The jolting force totally disrupts the nerve signals within the head, and the response is that the system momentarily almost shuts down.<\/p>\n “It’s like a protective kind of mechanism, resulting in a temporary loss of consciousness.<\/p>\n “Anyone can be knocked out, it just depends on how difficult that process is going to be.”<\/p>\n There are plenty of professionals who’ve never been knocked out. American legend Marvin Hagler survived some vicious bouts, notably his 1985 war with Thomas Hearns, before retiring without a losing KO on his record.<\/p>\n But in Scott’s estimation, such a record is, at least partly, down to luck.<\/p>\n