{"id":46422,"date":"2025-09-15T03:51:45","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T03:51:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=46422"},"modified":"2025-09-15T03:51:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T03:51:47","slug":"ricky-hatton-died-at-46","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2025\/09\/15\/ricky-hatton-died-at-46\/","title":{"rendered":"Ricky Hatton died at 46"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tributes have been paid to the British former world boxing champion Ricky Hatton<\/a> who has been found dead at his home at the age of 46.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hatton, known throughout his career as the Hitman, was one of the best-known British fighters of his generation and won several world titles. He retired in 2012 and went on to speak openly about his struggles with depression and alcohol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greater Manchester police said they were not treating his death at home in Hyde as suspicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ricky<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tributes from inside and outside the boxing world were paid to the Stockport-born fighter, who was training for his first contest in 13 years in an exhibition fight in Dubai in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amir Khan, another British former world champion, said Hatton was \u201cone of Britain\u2019s greatest boxers\u201d and also a friend, mentor and \u201ca warrior\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs fighters, we tell ourselves we\u2019re strong \u2013 we train, we sweat, we take hits, we get up,\u201d Khan said. \u201cBut sometimes the hardest fight happens in silence, in the mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMental health isn\u2019t weakness. It\u2019s part of being human. And we must talk about it. We must reach out. We must lean on each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury also paid tribute. Alongside two pictures of him with Hatton, Fury wrote on Instagram: \u201cRip to the legend @rickyhatton may he rip. There will only ever be 1 Ricky hatton. can\u2019t believe this so young.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BBC boxing pundit Steve Bunce described the news as \u201cunbelievably shocking\u201d because Hatton \u201cwas in a really good place\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ricky<\/a>
Ricky Hatton with the IBF and WBA light-welterweight belts after defeating Carlos Maussa in November 2005. Photograph: Nick Potts\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Only days ago, Hatton had posted videos of himself working out in the gym in apparent preparation for his comeback fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bunce said training for a contest had been Hatton\u2019s salvation but that he had not gone to the gym as planned on Friday and then failed to appear at a boxing match he was due to attend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t show up and someone went to his house this morning \u2026 It is shocking news,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fans of Manchester City and Manchester United held a minute\u2019s appreciation for Hatton during the derby at the Etihad on Sunday afternoon. City, the club Hatton supported, paid tribute to \u201can icon of British boxing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement, City said they were \u201cdevastated\u201d and that Hatton was \u201cviewed by many as one of the most compelling personalities the sport has ever produced\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added: \u201cHatton wore sky blue shorts and used Blue Moon as his walkout song throughout his career. Ricky was one of City\u2019s most loved and revered supporters, who will always be remembered for a glittering boxing career that saw him win world titles at welterweight and light-welterweight. Everyone at the club would like to send our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends at this difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
A minute\u2019s applause in tribute to Ricky Hatton before the Manchester derby. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Manchester United responded to City\u2019s post with the words: \u201cSending our heartfelt condolences to Ricky\u2019s loved ones on the loss of a legend of our city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The City midfielder Phil Foden spoke of his shock and the players\u2019 determination to do Hatton proud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to Sky Sports News before the match, he said: \u201cMy heart obviously goes out to his family, at this hard time. Obviously to hear the news just before a big game is devastating. I\u2019m sure he would have been here today as well, supporting us. Today is for him and we\u2019re going to try to get the win and do the best we can for him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ring magazine said it was \u201cdeeply saddened\u201d to learn of the former super-lightweight champion\u2019s death, while IFL TV, another boxing outlet, described Hatton as \u201ca legend of a man inside and outside the ring, he was truly one of a kind\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The British boxer, who won 45 of his 48 professional bouts, made his debut in 1997. He earned notable world title wins over Kostya Tszyu in 2005 and Jose Luis Castillo in 2007 before high-profile defeats by Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tributes were left at the gates of Hatton\u2019s property, called The Heartbreak, shortly after the news broke. One card read: \u201cWe can\u2019t gather our thoughts at present so we\u2019re not sure what to write. Devastated is the only thing that comes to mind. Thank you for being the beautiful soul you are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Billing, 46, said he was \u201cshaking, in shock\u201d as he draped a blue-and-white Manchester City scarf marked \u201cRIP Ricky\u201d alongside bouquets of flowers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Billing said he had known Hatton for years as they had both had struggles with alcoholism and were City fans. He said he last spoke to the former boxer three months ago when Hatton was about to go on holiday after the end of his relationship with the former Coronation Street star Claire Sweeney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was hard as nails, we all know that, but not in a bad way,\u201d Billing said. \u201cHe was a proper local lad, down to earth. You wouldn\u2019t think he was a professional boxer with millions and millions of pounds.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tributes have been paid to the British former world boxing champion Ricky Hatton who has been found dead at his home at the age of 46. Hatton, known throughout his career as the Hitman, was one of the best-known British fighters of his generation and won several world titles. He retired in 2012 and went on to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":46423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3295],"tags":[9951,6612,2735,12750,5810,5307,5268,8877,9331,8213,6083,7234,5241,6695,9292,5455,9026,6455,6225,12101,9762,12634,3932,1971,4832,8394,10104,11252,501,115,8126,5913,9683,10477,9605,13256,421,9036,6544,8513,9271,6567,1664,11325,8840,9616,1722,6348,10376,6571,36,7560,594,7082,5140],"class_list":["post-46422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-sport","tag-age","tag-alcohol","tag-bbc","tag-boxer","tag-boxing","tag-britain","tag-british","tag-castillo","tag-city","tag-coronation","tag-dead","tag-death","tag-died","tag-dubai","tag-earth","tag-family","tag-fans","tag-floyd-mayweather","tag-friends","tag-greater-manchester-police","tag-gym","tag-health","tag-heavyweight-champion","tag-holiday","tag-ibf","tag-instagram","tag-legend","tag-manchester","tag-manchester-city","tag-manchester-united","tag-match","tag-mental-health","tag-millions","tag-moon","tag-phil-foden","tag-players","tag-police","tag-pounds","tag-property","tag-ricky-hatton","tag-sky","tag-sky-sports","tag-stephen","tag-street","tag-strong","tag-train","tag-tyson-fury","tag-us","tag-welterweight","tag-white","tag-world","tag-world-champion","tag-who","tag-world-title","tag-young"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46422"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46424,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46422\/revisions\/46424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}