Ricky Hatton

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. His grandfather and his father both played football for Rochdale, and Hatton had a trial for the Rochdale youth team and once trialled with Manchester City, the club he supported all his life.

At 14 his uncles Ged and Paul took him to Old Trafford to watch the second fight between Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank. He first trained at Sale West ABC and found a local boxing club in Hyde. He said he got the nickname "Hitman" on his first day in a gym aged 10, when his amateur coach watched him walloping the bag.

Hatton was educated at Hattersley High School in Hyde. On leaving school he joined the family carpet business. After he cut four of his fingers with a Stanley knife, his father made him a salesman instead. His mother Carol later ran the family carpet stall on Glossop Market.

Hatton had a short amateur career in which he won seven British titles and represented England at the 1996 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships. His semi-final defeat there was controversial: four of the five judges scored the bout for him, but under the scoring rules he lost because the fifth judge gave it to his opponent by 16 points. That judge was later found to have accepted a bribe. Disillusioned with the amateur governing bodies, Hatton turned professional aged 18.

Hatton debuted on 11 September 1997 in Widnes with a first-round TKO of Colin McAuley, and boxed his second fight at Madison Square Garden on the Naseem Hamed vs Kevin Kelley undercard. In 1999 the British Boxing Writers' Club named him Young Boxer of the Year, and he won the WBO inter-continental title. He beat Jon Thaxton over twelve rounds for the British title in 2000 and won the WBU title against Tony Pep in March 2001, going on to a record fifteen successful WBU defences.

On 5 June 2005 he stopped Kostya Tszyu, then one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, when the Australian failed to come out for the twelfth round. Hatton took the IBF, Ring and lineal light-welterweight titles. On 26 November 2005 he beat Carlos Maussa in nine rounds to add the WBA title. In May 2006 he moved up and won the WBA welterweight title from Luis Collazo in one of the hardest fights of his career.

Returning to light-welterweight, he outpointed Juan Urango in January 2007 to regain the IBF title and win the IBO belt, then knocked out Jose Luis Castillo with a body shot on 23 June 2007. On 8 December 2007 he lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the tenth round in Las Vegas. He beat Juan Lazcano before 55,000 fans in Manchester in May 2008 and stopped Paulie Malignaggi in November 2008, but was knocked out by Manny Pacquiao in the second round on 2 May 2009.

After a long break he returned on 24 November 2012 against Vyacheslav Senchenko in Manchester, was knocked down by a body shot in the ninth round and retired straight afterwards, finishing 45 wins and 3 losses with 32 knockouts. In July 2025 he announced a comeback against Eisa Al Dah, planned for Dubai on 2 December 2025.

Hatton ran Hatton Promotions, which managed fighters including Lucas Browne, Zhanat Zhakiyanov, Ryan Burnett and Sergey Rabchenko. On 11 February 2017 Zhakiyanov beat Rau'shee Warren for the WBA bantamweight title, becoming the first world champion promoted and trained by Hatton. He also trained Tommy Fury and Nathan Gorman, was in Tyson Fury's corner against Deontay Wilder in 2018, and guided Chloe Watson to the European female flyweight title in December 2023.

Hatton had three children: his son Campbell, born in 2001, who also boxed professionally and was trained by his uncle Matthew, and two daughters, Millie and Fearne, with his former partner Jennifer Dooley. His father Ray was his manager in his fighting days. Hatton was estranged from his parents for several years after a dispute about money, and the family reconciled in 2019. His brother Matthew Hatton was also a professional boxer.

He was a devoted Manchester City fan, a lover of Elvis Presley (he named his house the Heartbreak Hotel) and was well known for playing darts at his local pub. In 2024 he had a relationship with Dancing on Ice contestant Claire Sweeney that ended in December that year.

Hatton spoke publicly about his struggles. In September 2010 he entered The Priory in Roehampton for treatment for alcohol problems and clinical depression. In December 2016 he said he had tried to take his own life several times. He became an ambassador for the suicide prevention charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) in 2023, and in December 2013 became patron of Barnabus, a Manchester Christian charity supporting homeless and vulnerable people.

Hatton is remembered as one of the most popular British boxers of all time, with a fan base that travelled in their tens of thousands to Las Vegas, singing a version of "Winter Wonderland" in his honour. Manchester City installed a permanent banner reading "There's only one Ricky Hatton" in the Etihad Stadium. Oasis dedicated "Live Forever" to him at Wembley, and on 7 June 2026 the tribute show "An Evening4Ricky" at the AO Arena raised funds for mental health causes through the Ricky Hatton Foundation.

British Boxing Writers' Club Young Boxer of the Year (1999). The Ring, BWAA, ESPN and BoxingScene Fighter of the Year (2005). MBE for services to sport in the 2007 New Year Honours. International Boxing Hall of Fame, class of 2024. World titles: IBF, WBA, Ring and lineal light-welterweight; WBA welterweight; IBO light-welterweight; plus WBU, British and inter-continental titles.

Hatton appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and Parkinson in 2007, hosted his own chat show Ricky Speaks on Nuts TV in 2008 and hosted WWE Raw in Sheffield in November 2009. His autobiography War and Peace: My Story described his family feud. The 2023 Sky documentary Hatton, directed by Dan Dewsbury, was nominated for the BAFTA for Single Documentary in 2024. He competed in series 16 of ITV's Dancing on Ice in January 2024. The rapper GZA referenced him on the 2008 track "Paper Plate".

On 12 September 2010 the News of the World published pictures appearing to show Hatton using cocaine in a Manchester hotel room. He entered rehab shortly afterwards. In his autobiography he said his father punched him during a confrontation in 2012, during a long family rift that ended in 2019.

Hatton was last seen on 12 September 2025 and missed a scheduled event on 13 September. On the morning of 14 September 2025 his manager and keyholder Paul Speak found him dead at his home on Bowlacre Road, Gee Cross, Hyde, having come to take him to Manchester Airport for a flight to a press conference in Dubai about his planned comeback. He was 46.

Manchester City and Manchester United held a minute's applause before the derby that afternoon. His funeral was held at Manchester Cathedral on 10 October 2025 after a public procession from Hyde led by his Only Fools and Horses Reliant Regal van, ending at the Etihad Stadium. The inquest opened at Stockport on 16 October 2025. On 20 March 2026 senior coroner Alison Mutch recorded a narrative conclusion, saying she could not be sure he intended to take his own life; his brain showed signs of mild chronic traumatic encephalopathy.