Ricky Hatton - Manchester's Rocky Balboa who made his home city a boxing paradise

Some of the world’s best footballers came together on September 14 to pay tribute to Ricky Hatton just hours after the former world champion’s shocking and untimely death was announced. He was only 46 . 

The Manchester derby was perhaps the most fitting occasion to honour the former world champion as he represented his home city with such pride and distinction, but any game on this past weekend’s fixture list would have displayed their appreciation for Hatton and his contributions to boxing. 

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Make no mistake, Hatton was a son of Manchester, but he was also a national hero who was universally loved and respected by all who had the privilege to witness one of the most sensational rises in British boxing history that began in a basic leisure centre in Widnes before going all the way to the most grandest locations in Las Vegas. 

It is very easy now to reflect on the life and career of Ricky Hatton, Manchester’s very own Rocky Balboa, who honed his craft in the basement of his parents’ pub, and immediately recall the memorable battles that saw Hatton share the ring with Godlike figures including Kostya Tszyu, Floyd Mayweather, and Manny Pacquiao. 

At the dawn of the new millennium, British boxing was at a crossroads and by the summer of 2003, Naseem Hamed and Lennox Lewis, two of the flagbearers of the thriving 1990s, had competed in their final fights. Hamed had been brutally humbled by Marco Antonio Barrera two years earlier and Lewis knew his time was up when he was pushed far more than he would have liked by Vitali Klitschko. 

Glimmers of hope existed thanks to the gold medal won by Audley Harrison at the 2000 Olympics and the performances of Carl Froch and David Haye at the 2001 World Amateur Championships. But something special was being cooked up in Manchester and by the middle of the noughties, British boxing fans were about to cling to someone who was about to take them on a journey like never before. 

Built on Sky TV, a platform many considered impossible to develop a fighter, Ricky Hatton, alongside Anthony Farnell and Michael Gomez, were three Mancunians being expertly guided by Frank Warren.

Where his oft-entertaining colleagues eventually found their ceiling, Hatton just kept going and going, eventually becoming world champion on an unforgettable night in 2005 when he stopped Tszyu. 

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Hatton’s ascension to the top did not go unnoticed throughout the country and it made Manchester a boxing hotbed that saw the city’s gyms filled with local fighters and travelling hopefuls all trying to discover the same magic that had been sprinkled on Hatton inside Billy Graham’s gym. 

Tony Bellew, Frankie Gavin, Paul Smith, Martin Murray, Derry Mathews and many others were all within touching distance of established fighting schools in their own areas, but the lure of the Manchester region and its booming reputation for creating champions ensured it was the place young fighters wanted to be. 

As well as attracting outstanding outsiders, local talent also prospered and future world champions like Anthony Crolla and Terry Flanagan continued the trend that had been popularised by the man who went before them.

This boxing explosion, this Manchester movement, this unforgettable era of British boxing when just a few years previous there had been wide concern for its future, was all down to one person. 

That man was Ricky Hatton. 

Although the Tszyu win was the peak of Hatton’s career, what came afterwards was significant for British boxing and the effects are still being felt today. Stadium fights, American excursions, late night PPVs. Hatton excelled in every area required to be a successful and marketable boxer, and he never once changed who he was at his core to achieve that status. 

During Hatton’s time on top, his city was enjoying incredible success as Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney made Manchester United continental kings. Hatton’s Manchester’s City’s fortunes changed drastically as they became one of the richest clubs in world football about to embark on an incredible adventure. In a place where football dominates, Hatton, for a sustained period, made boxing its equal. It takes a special man to make that happen. 

After losses to Mayweather and Pacquiao, Hatton was open about his struggles and his failure to cope with those defeats.

Hatton the fighter had won for so long that it became almost impossible for Hatton the man to cope. He spoke about hating himself even though everyone loved him. One expects there to be plenty written about those matters in the coming weeks, but to focus on Hatton’s demons is to take away from his incredible successes, and there were so many of them. 

From a city littered with sporting icons like George Best, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Bobby Charlton, and Pep Guardiola, Hatton stands side by side with them as a giant who made the people happy. 

A world champion, a boxing rock star, and a family man, Hatton’s passing will hurt so many for so long. The journey he allowed his supporters to go on was unexpected and unprecedented, but it was also unforgettable, and there is a reasonable chance we may never see anything like it ever again.