‘Ricky Hatton will always be my hero’… Darren Barker travelled from the UK to Africa in an outrageous physical challenge in memory of ‘The Hitman’

EXCLUSIVE: Darren Barker has just completed the Longest Round Challenge in memory of Ricky Hatton.

The former IBF middleweight world champion cycled, swam, and sailed his way from the UK to Africa on a journey that he’ll remember for the rest of his life.

Darren Barker overcame ‘the most tiring thing’ he’s ever done to raise money for Ricky Hatton

Mere days before Ricky Hatton tragically passed away, he joined Darren Barker for a candid interview in which he opened up about his truly remarkable career.

‘Dazzling’ adored the legend, and thus, felt compelled to embark on a mission to raise mental health awareness on the two-weight world champion’s behalf.

In an exclusive interview with Sporf, Barker, who is sponsored by Just Eat, enthused: “I wanted to do something in his honour. The idea was to cycle from Edinburgh to Dover, then swim the English Channel, which we weren’t able to do, but we were able to put in the same distance, so three of us did a relay together. Then, I cycled through France into Spain and Gibraltar.

“Then, the plan was to swim from Gibraltar to Morocco, but there were some issues getting the permit to do that. So, the Royal Navy and a sailing club in Gibraltar proposed a backup plan, which was to teach me how to sail a yacht in one day, and then sail from Gibraltar to Ceuta, which I did do with no help. I swam from the bay that Lord Nelson was brought back to after the Battle of Trafalgar. I swam to the boat, put the sails up myself, got to Ceuta, then I cycled to Morocco across the border and made it all the way to Africa.”

Along the way, Barker overcame adversity in abundance, with one stage of the challenge well and truly pushing him to his limits.

The retired boxer explained: “Going from a place in France called Dax to Pamplona in Spain, going through the Pyrenees was probably the toughest day of them all. It was ridiculous. I was up against it. My little Wahoo, the Satnav, that I have on the bike, it makes this little noise every time there’s a climb. So, I’d been cycling for 70 miles, and then I heard the sound. It said one-mile climb; I thought, ‘That’s not too bad’. Then it was a two-mile climb, and then ten minutes passed, and it was a 7.5-mile climb. I was just climbing and climbing — I was absolutely spent; I wasn’t even on zero, I was on -100. It was the most tiring thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

Ricky Hatton gave Darren Barker the strength to complete The Longest Round

With such respect for Hatton, Barker knew how important it was to ensure nobody forgets the inspirational work the Mancunian did for mental health.

The Londoner beamed: “Ricky will always be a hero of mine. He was a man of the people, such great value for money, a terrific boxer; when you bought a ticket to watch Ricky fight, you knew you were getting your money’s worth. He was a proper man, who we’re going to miss. The Longest Round Challenge was about continuing his legacy. He was an ambassador for Calm—the charity I raised the money for. One of the things he said to them was, ‘Whilst I’m here, I want to help as many people as I can’, so the goal was to keep doing that.”

And while the challenge was incredibly difficult, his dear friend gave him the strength to make it to the end.

Barker exclaimed: “100%. The memory of Ricky and the charity aspect of this, wanting to raise awareness, [helped me finish The Longest Round]. I knew the challenge had to be something epic to grab people’s attention. I knew it was going to be very tough. Ricky definitely got me through those tough times, like cycling through the Pyrenees when you’ve got 7.5-mile climbs. It was brutal, but the great man gave me an extra gear to get through it.”

Before his one-day’s sailing training on the Sunday and setting off on the final leg on Monday, Barker had enjoyed a well-deserved day off from his hectic challenge – exploring Gibraltar and all it has to offer with the support of Visit Gibraltar.

Featured Image Credit: Michael Menez/Getty