I don't mind getting beaten by Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr and people like that, but I'd hate to go into a training camp with my heart not fully in it and risk getting beaten by somebody who shouldn't be beating me.
If, and when, I do eventually decide to retire, the announcement will be made by myself. I feel that I have earned the right to do it myself.
I've fought at such a high level I couldn't have people look at me and say, 'well, he's just fought someone to knock them over.'
The manner of my defeat against Mayweather and certainly Manny Pacquiao was a bitter pill to swallow.
I always loved training to get fit, make all those sacrifices that you do, but it just wasn't there after Pacquiao.
No. 1 career highlight? It would have to be getting the MBE from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.
The high of victory in the ring was bigger than the biggest party. You'd get in the ring and hear thousands of fans chanting your name and I'd be giving it all back for them.
If boxing had a professional boxing association or something like that, I think it would be a better place.
It's an individual sport so you get in the ring on your own and then when you retire you tend to spend the rest of your life on your own.
He's a very, very clever fighter, Manny, but you'd have to say the cleverest fighter in boxing is Mayweather. He adapts his style against whatever opponent he faces.
Everyone knows my story and lots of people have been disappointed in my deterioration as a man. But they can see I'm trying to get better.
Before I turned professional I used to do carpet fitting for my dad. I wasn't much good, it's a miracle I've still got 10 fingers.
I'm known for my strength and it helped that from a young age I was carrying around crates of beer or carpets and heavy rolls of underlay.
The thing is with boxers we don't come from Cambridge and places like that, we come from council estates. So in boxing it's very, very hard.
We think, 'I'm Ricky Hatton or I'm Tyson Fury, I can take on the world.' You can take on the world in the ring but this problem called depression, you can't take it on.
We're out of our comfort zones with depression. I certainly was and whenever I have bad days now I speak to someone to get it off my chest.
I feel I let everyone British sport, British boxing, my community, my home town of Manchester, my family my kids, I feel I've let everyone down with the troubles I've been in.
It doesn't matter how many people say 'well, everyone makes mistakes Ricky, you've had a great career you should be proud of yourself' but that doesn't mean much compared to what goes on between my ears.
As I went into my role as a trainer I had to get more professional as people were putting their livelihood in my hands.
It makes me very, very happy to get someone a world title shot, which I've done with a few fighters, or a European title shot or a British title, and I see them lift that belt above their waist and they come to me and say 'Thanks Ricky. I've just paid my mortgage off with that.' That's what its all about.
Depression is a serious thing and, after my defeat to Pacquiao, I was facing retirement and didn't cope with it very well.
They say 'you've over trained, you've left it in the gym' is the most common phrase used in boxing but my god it is the truest.
I could come in the gym to train with the boys and they'd think I was alright, but I'd go home and sit there crying.
People with success are less able to cope because you're used to being on Mount Everest and when it's gone, what do you do?
When I got successful and people started talking about me, I didn't want anyone thinking I thought I was a 'big time Charlie.'
Once I got beat by Mayweather I felt so ashamed. I cancelled all my functions, all my appearances, I didn't want to walk down the street. I was too embarrassed to even go and have a pint with my mates.
It doesn't matter how many people say 'don't be hard on yourself,' I feel like I have to redeem myself to my fans, my family and the whole of British sport.
I want people to look at me as a four-time world champion, in two weight categories, as a down-to-earth man of the people, not the joke that I had become.
People say maybe I could have got better performances out of myself or I could have a got few more fights out of myself if I looked after my body a little bit more but at the end of the day it was because I was jack the lad.
I went to the darts, went to the football, had a little pint, no airs and graces. I think that's why I had the fan base I had.