There's Only One Ricky Hatton

Ricky Hatton, MBE

British boxing lost one of its most loved stars when it was announced that Ricky Hatton, the former two-weight world champion, was found dead at his Manchester home at 6.45 am by a member of the public, who alerted the police on Sunday 14th September 2015. 

A tribute from his family said: "He had a heart as big as his smile, and his kindness, humour and loyalty touched everyone who was lucky enough to know him," the Hatton family said.

"As a family, our loss is immeasurable, and words cannot truly capture the pain we feel. Yet in the midst of our grief, we have been deeply moved by the overwhelming outpouring of love and support.

"Richard's memory will forever remain in our hearts, in the hearts of his fans, and in the sport he loved so dearly."

Hatton was born on 6th October 1978 to Publican parents Ray and Carol, as Richard John Hatton, at the Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, Greater Manchester. When Ricky was born, the family lived in Hayfield, before moving to the Oddfellows Arms in Hyde. From there they moved to the Bowling Green in Marple and when Ricky was nine, they settled at the New Inn in Hattersley.

Ricky came from a footballing family and according to his autobiography, Ricky Hatton The Hitman My Story, his father played for Manchester City, although he never played first-team football, with his mum and dad believing his fascination with Bruce Lee films was just a phase, but, aged seven he started kickboxing classes. 

However, kickboxing soon subsided to the squared circle format when he walked into the Louvolite, his local boxing gym in Hyde. Hatton did not take the sport seriously for the first eighteen months until he reached the age of twelve and realised that he was quite good at the sport and was improving rapidly. He moved clubs and joined the gym at Sale West. A year later he won his first national title, the Junior Schoolboys championships, held in Derby.

Hatton was also spotted by his beloved Manchester City Football Club whilst playing for his district football club, Tameside Boys and spent a couple of years at their centre of excellence. His football and boxing training often clashed and Hatton had no doubt in his mind that boxing was the sport for him.

Hatton was regularly winning his fights by stoppage and won a few national titles when he was called up to represent England in a schoolboy match against Russia. He beat both their national champions at welterweight and light-welterweight, in Russia, and on his return began to believe he could make a go of it as a boxer.

At sixteen his coach began to take him to some professional gyms, where he would spar the likes of Pat Barrett and Robin Reid. It was around this time that he met his professional trainer, Billy Graham, at his Phoenix gym in Salford.

Hatton left school at sixteen without any qualifications and worked for his dad as a carpet fitter in their family business, and was allowed time off to spend time at the gym.

Sparring the pros was paying dividends in his amateur career and at the age eighteen, he hung up his vest with a purported record of 73-7, which included a Bronze medal at the 1996 World Junior Championships held in Havana, Cuba and an ABA light-welterweight title in 1997.

The leading British boxing promoters at the time were Frank Warren and Frank Maloney, and they both approached Ray Hatton and Billy Graham about signing the young Mancunian. Although Maloney had heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis in his stable, it was ultimately Frank Warren that he signed for, turning professional on 11th September 1997 at the Kingsway Leisure Centre, Widnes, Cheshire.

WBC super-middleweight champion Robin Reid topped the bill with his third defence against Hacine Cherifi, beating the Frenchman by split decision, as Hatton stopped Colin McAuley with a retirement after three completed minutes of the opening round.

Hatton travelled to Madison Square Garden for his second pro bout with a four-round unanimous decision against Brooklyn’s Robert Alvarez on the Naseem Hamed vs Kevin Kelley card.

The youngster was soon making a name for himself with his comeforward aggressive style and lethal left hook to the body and Boxing Monthly had tipped him as a fighter for the future. In May 1999, after going 12-0 (8 KOs), he faced Dillon Carew of Guyana for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental super-lightweight title. It took the twenty-year-old five rounds to stop his southpaw opponent and claim his first professional belt.

Hatton made six successful defences, all by stoppage, before facing his toughest opponent to date, when he challenged compatriot John Thaxton for the vacant British light-welterweight title in October 2000. Thaxton, from Norwich, England, had been a pro since 1992, and had held IBF and WBO Inter-Continental titles from 1996 to 1998, and challenged unsuccessfully for the British title eleven months previously, boasting a record of  19-5 (10 KOs). The Mancunian, who suffered a cut early in the opening round, was taken the full twelve rounds for the very first time in his career, claiming the vacant belt with a 117-113 verdict from referee and sole judge Paul Thomas.

In March 2001, Hatton faced the experienced Canadian, Tony Pep, for the vacant World Boxing Union light-welterweight title. Pep was in his nineteenth year as a professional, and had traded punches with the likes of Tony ‘The Tiger’ Lopez, Regilio Tuur, Louie Espinosa and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Pep was only stopped by Lopez in his 41-7-1 (22 KOs), but at thirty-six, he had seen better days and Hatton took only four rounds to become the new WBU champion, improving to 23-0 (19 KOs).

Hatton made fifteen defences of his title, including a fourth round knockout over British champion Jason Rowlands, a second round kayo against the thirty-eight-year-old former IBF lightweight champion Freddie Pendleton, a unanimous decision over Eamon Magee - where he got up from a first round knockdown - another unanimous decision against ex-IBF light-welterweight title holder Vince Phillips, a points win over tough Ghanian Ben Tackie, before facing his biggest test to date against the long-reigning king of the division Kostya Tszyu on 4th June 2005.

Konstantin Borisovich Tszyu was born in Serov, Russia and represented the Soviet Union in his highly decorated 259-11 amateur career. Tszyu then became an Australian national and started his professional career in Melbourne, stopping Darrell Hiles in the opening round on the undercard to the rematch between Azumah Nelson and Jeff Fenech on 1st March 1992.

He first became champion with a sixth-round stoppage over IBF title holder Jake ‘The Snake’ Rodriguez in January 1995. Tszyu lost the belt in his sixth defence to Vince Phillips, in what was seen as a huge upset in May 1997. He became world champion again, stopping Miguel Angel Gonzalez in the tenth round for the vacant WBC title in May 1999. 

Tszyu unified the light-welterweight championship when he stopped WBA champion Sharmba Mitchell in the seventh round in February 2001. He then claimed the IBF belt with a stunning second round knockout over Zab Judah nine months later.

By the time Tszyu faced Hatton, the IBF and Ring Magazine belts were on the line and at thirty-five, he was a massive favourite to retain his belt at the M.E.N Arena in Manchester. However, Hatton’s promoter was a match-making genius and always knew when to put his fighters in with an ageing world champion. In a messy contest, littered with low blows and ruled slips for both, the twenty-six-year-old challenger started to dominate in round ten against the feared champion.

Tszyu’s trainer, Johnny Lewis, threw in the towel at the end of round eleven, much to the delight of the 22,000 fans in an emotionally-fueled evening, as Hatton was crowned world light-welterweight champion. Tszyu, 31-2 (25 KOs) never boxed again, as Hatton moved onto bigger things.

Hatton made his maiden defence in Sheffield against Carlos Maussa in November 2005, stopping the Colombian in the ninth round, before stepping up to welterweight to challenge Luis Collazo at the TD Garden in Boston the following May.

Both men weighed 147 pounds (66.68 Kg), and although the challenger was the naturally smaller man, he landed a left hook in the opening ten seconds of the contest to score a flash knockdown. However, Collazo regrouped and the bout went to the scorecards. Hatton became a two-weight world champion with a unanimous decision of 115-112 (twice) and 114-113, with many observers believing Collazo should have got the nod.

Hatton returned to the ring in January 2007 to defend his light-welterweight championship in Las Vegas, outscoring Juan Urango over twelve rounds to add the vacant IBO title to his IBF belt. The Mancunian remained in Las Vegas for his next defence five months later, when he faced Jose Luis Castillo at the Thomas and Mack Center.

The thirty-three-year-old Mexican boasted a 55-7-1 (46 KOs) record, with many believing he did enough to defeat Floyd Mayweather Jr in their first bout in April 2002. However, Hatton dispatched the Mexican with a single left hook to the body in round four, as referee Joe Cortez reached the count of ten.

Hatton then faced Floyd Mayweather Jr on 8th December 2007 at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, for the American’s WBC welterweight title. Mayweather was undefeated in 38 fights and won world titles from super-featherweight, lightweight, light-welterweight, welterweight and was fresh from taking Oscar De La Hoya’s WBC light-middleweight belt seven months previously.

Mayweather was a two-to-one favourite to remain undefeated, as both boxers boasted a combined record of 81-0. The 16,459 sellout crowd were mostly British and they let their support for their fellow countryman be heard, with the famous chant of, “There’s only one Ricky Hatton, One Ricky Hatton, Walking along, Singing his song, Walking his winter wonderland." 

However, Mayweather broke the hearts of the Hatton fans, stopping the Mancunian in the tenth round, to inflict the first blemish of his professional career.

Hatton was still the IBO light-welterweight champion, and he successfully defended the belt at his beloved City of Manchester Football Stadium in May 2008, unanimously outscoring Mexico’s Juan Lacanzo. He returned to Las Vegas six months later and stopped former IBF light-welterweight champion Paul Malignaggi in the eleventh round.

Hatton, rated as the premier light-welter in the world and eighth pound-for-pound by The Ring Magazine, defended his title against Manny Pacquiao - the number one by the same publication - at the MGM Grand on 2nd May 2009. The multi-weight champion from the Philippines had an impressive record of 48-3-2 (37 KOs) and had beaten big names like Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez and in his previous bout in December 2008, he stopped Oscar De La Hoya in the eighth round.

The IBO champion was a two-to-one underdog and came out in the first round looking to apply pressure on his southpaw challenger. Pacquiao had speed and power on his side and effectively countered his slower opponent and floored the Brit twice inside the first three minutes.

It looked as if Hatton had regrouped in the second round, as he found his range with some decent shots. However, Pacquiao’s left hand to the jaw rendered Hatton unconscious as he lay motionless on the canvas for a few tense moments.

That looked to be the end of the ‘Hitman’s’ career, but on 24th November 2012, the thirty-four-year-old decided to test himself against former WBA welterweight champion Vyachslav Senchko from Kyiv, Ukraine.

The thirty-five-year-old Ukrainian had only lost one in his thirty three bouts and that was seven months previously to Paul Maliginaggi, when he lost his world title in his fourth defence.

Hatton-Senchko took place at the Manchester Arena and both fighters seemed evenly matched. Going into the ninth round, Hatton was ahead 77-76 (twice) and 78-74 on all three judges’ cards. Ironically, a left hook to the body from the Ukrainian ended the comeback dream at the two-minute and 52-second point of the round.

Hatton immediately announced his retirement at the post-fight press conference and never boxed professionally again, finishing with a record of 45-3 (32 KOs).

Though Hatton promoted and trained fighters, retirement was not easy on him. He fell out with his parents over money for many years before reconciling in 2019. He was battling with substance and alcohol abuse and he had depression, admitting he had attempted suicide on a few occasions, saying, "I was coming off the rails with my drinking and that led to drugs. It was like a runaway train."

In November 2022, he faced Marco Antonio Barrera in an exhibition contest at the Manchester Arena, coming out to the ring in a zimmer frame. He also appeared on ITV’s Dancing on Ice in 2024.

In 2025 he announced a comeback fight at middleweight against Eisa Al Dah in Dubai, scheduled for 2nd December, before his untimely death, aged forty-six. Hatton leaves behind his son Campbell, also an ex-boxer and his daughters Millie and Fearne Grace.

Ricky Hatton will be remembered as not only a popular world boxing champion who had a wicked left hook to the body, but also as one of Britain’s favourite sportsmen, who transcended the sport he dedicated his life to. Rest in peace champ, and enjoy your eternal walk in your winter wonderland. 

All the best fight fans

Lea

Thank you for reading this post. If you would like to support me further, then please click the link below to join The Boxing History Facebook Page or purchase the books that are available on most digital stores. Many thanks: https://linktr.ee/leroy_fight_writer