Ricky Hatton
Richard John Hatton, also known by nicknames such as "The Hitman", "The Pride of Hyde" and the "People's Champion", was a British professional boxer who competed between 1997 and 2012, and later worked as a boxing promoter and trainer. During his boxing career he held multiple world championships in the light-welterweight division, and one at welterweight. In 2005 he was named Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine, the Boxing Writers Association of America, ESPN, and BoxingScene.
In 2000 Hatton won the British light welterweight title, followed by the World Boxing Union title the following year; he made a record fifteen successful defences of the latter from 2001 to 2004. He reached the pinnacle of his career in 2005 by defeating Kostya Tszyu for the International Boxing Federation, Ring and lineal titles. This was followed up later that year with a victory over Carlos Maussa to claim the World Boxing Association title, thereby becoming a unified light-welterweight world champion.
Making his welterweight debut in 2006, Hatton won a tough fight against WBA champion Luis Collazo to win a world title in his second weight class. A return to light welterweight in 2007 saw him win the vacant IBF title for a second time, as well as the International Boxing Organization title. In the same year, Hatton had his career-first defeat against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in an attempt to win the World Boxing Council, Ring and lineal welterweight titles. This defeat took a severe toll on Hatton's wellbeing, as did a second defeat in 2009 when he lost his IBO, Ring and lineal light welterweight titles to Manny Pacquiao.
After Hatton's career was put on a long hiatus, rumours of a comeback continued to circulate in the media over the next several years. In 2011, Hatton announced his retirement from the sport, but in 2012, more than three years after his last fight, he confirmed his comeback. A loss to Vyacheslav Senchenko in his first match back prompted Hatton to immediately announce his final retirement. He remained retired for 13 years before announcing a comeback in July 2025. Hatton died by suicide before he could make his ring return.
Hatton was lauded as one of the most beloved and popular British boxers of all time, with a raucous fan base that travelled in their tens of thousands across the Atlantic to support him. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2024.
Early life
Richard John Hatton was born on 6 October 1978 in Stockport, Greater Manchester. He grew up in a pub on the Hattersley council estate in Hyde. He first trained at the Sale West ABC. He was educated at Hattersley High School. His grandfather and his father both played football for Rochdale and Hatton had a trial for the youth team. He found a local boxing club in Hyde to train at. Aged 14, Ricky Hatton was taken by his uncles Ged and Paul to Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium to watch the second fight between Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank. On leaving school he joined the family carpet business, but after he cut four of his fingers with a Stanley knife, his father made him a salesman to prevent him from losing his fingers.Amateur career
Hatton had a short amateur career, in which he won seven British titles and represented his country at the 1996 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships. His elimination in the semi-finals caused controversy. Four of the five judges awarded the contest to Hatton, but under the scoring rules Hatton was defeated as the fifth judge gave the match to Hatton's opponent by 16 points. The judge was later found to have accepted a bribe, and disillusioned with the amateur governing bodies, Hatton turned professional, aged 18. Hatton was based at Billy "The Preacher" Graham's gym in Moss Side in Manchester, where fellow boxers included Carl Thompson and Michael Gomez.Professional career
Light-welterweight
Early career
Hatton made his professional debut on 11 September 1997 against Colin McAuley in Widnes at Kingsway Leisure Centre. Hatton won by a technical knockout in the first round, while in his second fight he boxed at Madison Square Garden in New York, as part of the undercard to Naseem Hamed vs. Kevin Kelley. Soon he was fighting on the undercard of contests involving major British boxers, such as the two WBO cruiserweight title fights between Carl Thompson and Chris Eubank in 1998. In 1999 the British Boxing Writers' Club named Hatton their Young Boxer of the Year. His first international title came in May 1999, when he defeated Dillon Carew for the WBO inter-continental light-welterweight title.Hatton's next four fights after gaining the WBO inter-continental belt were all won within four rounds. He then gained the WBA Inter-Continental title following a unification bout against Giuseppe Lauri. The following month he fought Jon Thaxton for the vacant British title. Despite sustaining a cut over his left eye in the first round, Hatton continued for the full twelve rounds and won on points, the first time in his career that he had been taken beyond six rounds. As the cut was his fourth above the same eye, Hatton had plastic surgery on his eyebrow that November, with a view to a world title shot in the spring. Hatton claimed the vacant WBU title in March 2001, having sent opponent Tony Pep to the canvas three times in the process.
Hatton vs. Tszyu
On 5 June 2005, Hatton defeated IBF and The Ring champion Kostya Tszyu, then widely regarded as one of the top pound-for-pound boxers in the world, by a TKO after the Australian failed to answer the bell for the twelfth round. Hatton was a heavy underdog for this fight and the victory announced his entry to the upper echelons of the world boxing scene. Prior to the fight, the majority of boxing critics had given Hatton little or no chance and this victory was regarded as one of the best victories by an English boxer in the last 20 years.Light Welterweight Unification
On 26 November 2005, Hatton won the WBA light-welterweight title when he defeated Carlos Maussa in the ninth round of a unification bout. In December, Hatton was named the 2005 Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year.Hatton relinquished his IBF title on 29 March 2006 after refusing to fulfil a mandatory defence against number one contender Naoufel Ben Rabah because he intended to move up to the welterweight division. Hatton signed a three-fight contract with Dennis Hobson's fight academy after splitting from long time promoter Frank Warren.
Welterweight
Hatton vs. Collazo
Hatton moved up a division to meet American Luis Collazo for the WBA welterweight title which took place on 13 May 2006. Hatton won the WBA title from Collazo but struggled. Hatton started well, knocking Collazo down in the very first few seconds of the first round, but it turned out to be one of the toughest fights of his career, with some boxing analysts claiming Collazo won the fight, although many thought Hatton had done enough early on to secure victory, with the knockdown a pivotal point in the fight.Return to light-welterweight
Hatton vs. Urango
Hatton's first fight back at light-welterweight was against then IBF light-welterweight champion Juan Urango for his title and the vacant IBO title on 20 January 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hatton's promoter, Dennis Hobson, stated that the impetus for moving back down was to set up a fight with José Luis Castillo, a fighter who nearly beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. at lightweight in 2002.Hatton ended up winning a twelve-round unanimous decision against Urango to re-capture the IBF light-welterweight title. He won all but one round on all three judges' scorecards. Castillo, who was on the undercard, also won, setting up their long-awaited fight.
Hatton vs. Castillo
Hatton was forced to relinquish his IBF title again on 10 February to be able to fight Castillo. The fight was held on 23 June 2007, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada. In round four, Hatton landed a "perfect" left hook to the liver, which put Castillo to the canvas. Hatton later said that four of Castillo's ribs were broken with this one punch. Unable to stand up, Castillo was counted out for the first time in his career.Return to welterweight
Hatton vs. Mayweather Jr.
Hatton agreed to terms on 27 July for an 8 December 2007 welterweight fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. which was considered to be the biggest welterweight fight since the 1999 clash between Oscar De La Hoya and Tito Trinidad. The MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas was announced as the venue on 17 August 2007. The fight was agreed to less than three months after Mayweather had said he planned to retire following a victory over Oscar De La Hoya. Hatton was able to bring the fight to Mayweather in the early rounds. In the 1st round, Hatton caught Mayweather with a left jab which knocked Mayweather off balance. His constant pressure appeared to make Mayweather uncomfortable at first. In the third round, Mayweather landed a right that cut Hatton above the right eye.In round six, referee Joe Cortez took a point away from Hatton after he appeared to hit Mayweather on the back of the head while Mayweather was rested between the ropes. However, the punch was revealed to have hit the rope rather than Mayweather's head, but Hatton was warned for punching behind the head on numerous occasions before the deduction. Hatton became infuriated at the referee's decision to deduct a point and turned his back on him. Hatton later said he was angered by the referee, which caused him to lose his calm and contributed to his downfall. Hatton was able to hold his own until round eight, when Mayweather began to adapt to Hatton and started counterattacking. Mayweather knocked Hatton down to the mat in round ten. Hatton got up, but Mayweather quickly resumed his attack, resulting in Joe Cortez putting a stop to the fight and Hatton's corner threw in the towel. Official scorecards read 88–82, 89–81, and 89–81 at the time of stoppage, all in favour of Mayweather.