It is worth telling about two stories, thinking about Ricky Hatton’s ultramagnetic charm, who died at the age of 46 at his home at Greater Manchester on September 14.
The first comes from 2001, before Hatton became the world champion when he created an 11-year-old student with Oldham with his mascot.
Hatton was moved by the history of James Bowes about coping with a hydrocephalus-condition characterized by the accumulation of fluid in the brain-and he told him to transfer his belts to the ring before the fighting. James would still be Hatton’s mascot for some of the boxer’s biggest nights.
“He once appeared at the gym in Hyde [in England]Hatton said just before the fight with Kostya Tyu in 2005.
“He had scars and bandages on his head and I just wondered who he was. One day I just asked his mother, who unfortunately has no more with us, which simply makes the whole thing even more tragic. She told me that he had a brain disorder and he watched my whole fights. It means that he led me to the ring. He saw that the buzz he gave him.
The second story is when Hatton wore a broad suit on the ring before he was to face Paulie Malignaggi in 2008.
His self -proclaimed humor was an antithesis because of the waved braggadocio and rubbish, which are typical of gathering before the fight. Hatton approached the ring in a broad suit and a robe with the word “Fatman” at the top of the hood, a joke about his weight, which between the fights. Both stories are in a sense to explain why Hatton has crossed sport, popular on both sides of the Atlantic, but especially in his family Manchester in England.
While Hatton (45-3, 32 KO), he won the lanes of the world title in welterweight and welterweight, perhaps its greatest achievement was its popularity and relationship with fans.
When Hatton fought Floyd Mayweather Jr. In 2007, almost 20,000 fans traveled from Great Britain to Las Vegas. Hatton’s magnetic pulling was not simply to his thrilling style of versatile, catching ribs and knockouts.
“I think they felt like they were supporting their partner,” said Hatton. “They see me in the ring and see myself. I’m not a flash. I’m just one of the boys. I have never tried to fraudulent it and I think such people. I had an thrilling boxing style and I think that people are so. This is only me.”
When Hatton fought with the best of his generation – Mayweather in 2007 and Manna Pacquiao in 2009 – ended painfully for a boxer known as “Hitman”.
“I was doing quite well until I slipped,” Hatton joked about the elimination of Mayweather in the 10th round at MGM Grand Garden.
But Hatton was one of the best boxers in the world for some time, after he won his first world -class title, stopping Kostya Tziu in Manchester in 2005.
– Manny Pacquiao runs tribute to the “great warrior” Ricky Hatton
– Superfan City Hatton remembered before Manchester Derby
“People said that if I defeated Tziu, it would be one of the best victories of the British boxer,” Hatton said ESPN last year before his introduction to the International Gallery of Boxing Fame.
“I think this is my biggest win, looking back, and it opened the door to the fight in the States. He was known all over the world, but for me people in America said who is this fat diminutive child from Manchester, who just detained Kostya Tziu on his stool.”
Despite entering the fight against the weaker before 22,000 of his family fans, Hatton dominated a more experienced Tyu, who at that time was in the third place in the pounds for pounds. At the end of the 11th round, the Australian Russian was withdrawn from the fight when he sat on the stool.
Hatton’s career then crossed to a different level, and six of his next nine fights in the United States. The detention of the fourth round of the Mexican Jose Luis Castillo in 2007 was one of the outstanding victories before three defeats in the last five fights.
After stopping in two rounds by Pacquiao in May 2009, Hatton did not fight for three years, dealing with depression and addiction to drugs and alcohol.
“Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather were the most significant, despite the fact that I took second place, but they were the best in the industry at the time,” said Hatton in ESPN in 2024. “I fought these failures after I’m in a elated place now and I’m glad that I am talking about them now.
“I am glad that I did not take my life when I fought because I would miss it so much.”
Hatton said he was considering suicide among alcohol and drug addiction after the loss of Pacquiao in 2009 and before returning in 2012. Thousands hoped that he would see him at the same level as he was five years earlier, but it was unreal hope.
Hatton ended his career losing to Vyacheslave Senchenko in November 2012, return three years after Pacquiao was detained. In July, it was reported that Hatton would end a 13-year retirement to face Eisa Al Dah from the United Arab Emirates (8-3, 4 KO) in the average weight competition on December 2 in Dubai.
Like many former masters, Hatton encountered greater dangers in his life outside the ring after retiring. Under the wise and cheerful external appearance, Hatton fought depression.
Looking back at his career, perhaps Hatton’s greatest achievement was his popularity as a master of people, whose fans simply considered their partner.
