Darren Barker: Why I'm pushing my body to the limit in tribute to hero Ricky Hatton

I feel like I owe this to Ricky

Ricky Hatton was a hero of mine. He was one of the fighters that made me realise what a big fight night was all about.

The energy he brought, not just to the fight, but the crowds that followed him — it was just perfect.

It was everything I aspired to be and wanted to be involved in, so he was just such a big part of my journey from afar.

Having the honour and privilege to speak to him on the Tuesday before he passed away, I feel like I owe it to him.

He gave up his time. And as this so sadly shows us, time is the most valuable thing we have.

We don't know how long we've got and he gave up his time that day to speak to me. The least I can do is try and do something for him, his foundation and mental health as a whole.

The mental side of the training for The Longest Round has been hard. Physically, it's very demanding. But mentally, it's brutal.

Part of training is spending lots of time on your own, certainly when you're in the sea, the lakes or in the pool. You're on your own, you can't talk to anyone and it's just trying to occupy your mind.

I always go back to the why, the what. Why I'm doing what I'm doing and who I'm doing it for helps.

I also remind myself how privileged I am to be able to do this. How many people would love the opportunity to push themselves and do this?

It's nice for me. My whole life had structure, had goals. I've been in uncomfortable situations and then you retire and all that kind of disappears.

As nice as it is being comfortable, it gets boring. I want to see what this 44-year-old body is capable of doing. I want to push it, I want to see.

Swimming was something I'd done in the last two of my training camps. And cycling has always been something I've admired.

So I've tailored the challenge to my body. There's no running, no punching or anything like that. It's just spinning my legs and moving the arms.

We've got the likes of Tony Bellew, Eddie Hearn, Joe Calzaghe, Carl Frampton and Barry Jones joining me on the cycling legs, with more to come.

I want to get loads of people to join me and try and create a bit of a movement. Get people talking — that’s important for me as well.

So if anyone is reading this and fancies it, come join me. I'm setting off from Edinburgh on August 18.

Darren Barker was speaking to Gavin Glicksman

Watch Fury vs. Hall exclusively on DAZN

'The Beauty' Tommy Fury fights the 'The Beast' Eddie Hall on a great Misfits fight night on Saturday, June 13, exclusively live on DAZN. Buy as a one-off PPV or included, along with Zayas vs. Ennis (June 27), Joshua vs. Prenga (July 25) and Canelo vs. M'billi (Sept 12) PPVs, with a DAZN Ultimate Tier subscription.

For more information, pricing and to buy, click here.