Ricky Hatton

Richard John Hatton (born 6 October 1978) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 1997 and 2012, and has since worked as a boxing promoter and trainer. During his boxing career he held multiple world championships at light-welterweight and one at welterweight. BoxRec ranks Hatton as the 11th greatest European fighter of all time and 5th greatest British fighter of all time, pound for pound. In 2005 he was named Fighter of the Year by '' The Ring'' magazine, the Boxing Writers Association of America, and ESPN.

In 2000, Hatton won the British light-welterweight title, followed by the WBU 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 IBF, ''Ring'' and lineal titles. This was followed up later that year with a victory over Carlos Maussa to claim the WBA (Super) 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 IBO title. In the same year, Hatton had his career first defeat against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in an attempt to win the WBC, ''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 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.

Hatton has been 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.

Early years

Born in Stockport, Hatton was raised on the Hattersley council estate in Hyde, Greater Manchester and trained at the Sale West ABC (Racecourse Estate). 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. His entrance music is the Manchester City club song "Blue Moon", as performed by the band "Supra." Aged 14, 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. He joined the family carpet business on leaving school, 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, where fellow boxers included Carl Thompson and Michael Gomez.

Amateur highlights

* ABA national junior champion (class C) – light-welterweight (1994)
*ABA national junior champion (class A) – light-welterweight (1995, 1996)
*ABA national junior champion (class B) – light-welterweight (1997)
*ABA national champion – light-welterweight (1997)

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 (TKO) in 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

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