Ricky_Hatton

Ricky Hatton

Richard "Ricky" Hatton MBE (born October 6, 1978, in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England), is a British boxer. He is seen by many as one of the most popular British fighters of all time. He is more commonly known as Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton.

Hatton is a two-time IBF and IBO Light Welterweight Champion, having relinquished the IBF belt, only to step back down to the weight class and beat Juan Urango. He was the WBA Welterweight Champion, but relinquished this title on August 31, 2006. Hatton is also the former WBU, WBA Light Welterweight Champion and WBC, WBA, WBO Inter-Continental Light Welterweight Champion, and current Ring Magazine Light Welterweight Champion.

Biography

Born in Stockport, Greater Manchester, Hatton was raised on the Hattersley council estate in Hyde, Greater Manchester and trained at the Sale West ABC on the Racecourse Estate. He was educated at Alder Community High School.

Both his grandfather and father played for Rochdale A.F.C. , and Ricky had a trial for the youth team. But Hatton found a local boxing club in Hyde, which he still trains at, and found he enjoyed the sport. Hatton's 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. Hatton 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.

Boxing career

Hatton's debut fight was on 10 September 1997 against Colin McAuley in Widnes at Kingsway Leisure Centre (he won by a KO in 1), while in his second fight Hatton boxed at Madison Square Garden in New York.

In 2000, Hatton overcame one of his toughest fights when he beat Jon Thaxton on points. Hatton was cut badly early on in the fight, and some say the fight should have been stopped. Still, Hatton showed great heart to come through.

On 5 June 2005 Hatton beat Kostya Tszyu, then widely regarded as one of the top pound-for-pound boxers in the world by a technical knockout after the Australian failed to answer the bell for the 12th 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. On 26 November 2005 Hatton won the WBA 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.

Hatton relinquished his IBF belt on 29 March, 2006 after refusing to fulfil a mandatory defence against number one contender Naoufel Ben Rabah, because he intended to move up to the welterweight class. Hatton signed a three fight contract with Dennis Hobson's fight academy after splitting from long time promoter Frank Warren. The three fights would take place in America.

Moving to Welterweight

Hatton moved up a division to meet American Luis Collazo for the WBA Welterweight crown which took place on 13 May 2006. Hatton won the WBA crown from Collazo but struggled with Collazo's slick south-paw style and the extra weight. Hatton started well, knocking Collazo down in the very first few seconds of the first round, but it turned out to be one of the toughest fights of his career, with some boxing analysts believing Collazo won the fight, although many also thought Hatton had done enough early on in the fight to secure victory, with the knock down a pivotal point in the fight. Hatton then moved back down to Light Welterweight to defeat Juan Urango

Back to Light Welterweight

Hatton's first fight back at Light Welterweight was against the current IBF Light Welterweight Champion Juan Urango on January 20, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hatton's promoter Dennis Hobson stated that the impetus for moving back down was to set up a fight with Jose Luis Castillo, a fighter who nearly beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. at Lightweight in 2002. Hatton ended up winning a 12 round unanimous decision against Urango, to re-capture the unified IBF and IBO Light Welterweight titles. He won all but one round on all three judges' scorecards. Castillo, who was on the undercard, also won (via split decision), setting up their long-awaited fight.

Hatton was forced to relinquish his IBF title again on 10 February, to be able to fight Castillo. The fight was held on Saturday, June 23, 2007, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. In round four, Hatton landed a "perfect" left hook to the liver, which put Castillo to the canvas. Ricky later claimed that 4 of Castillo's ribs were broken with this one punch. Unable to stand up, Castillo was counted out for the first time in his career. Hatton retained the IBO Light Welterweight championship, with his record now standing at 43 fights, 43 wins, with 31 coming by way of knockout.

Return to Welterweight

Hatton vs. Mayweather Jr.

Hatton agreed to terms on Friday July 27, for a December 8, 2007 welterweight fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr which was considered to be the biggest welterweight fight since the 1999 clash between Oscar de la Hoya and Puerto Rican legend Felix 'Tito' Trinidad. The MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas was announced as the venue on August 17, 2007. The fight was agreed to less than three months after Mayweather had said he planned to retire following a victory over Oscar De La Hoya.

Hatton was able to bring the fight to Mayweather in the early rounds. In the 1st round Hatton caught Mayweather with a left jab which knocked Mayweather off balance. His constant pressure appeared to make Mayweather uncomfortable at first. In round six, referee Joe Cortez took a point away from Hatton after he appeared to hit Mayweather on the back of the head while Mayweather was rested between the ropes. However, the punch was revealed to have hit the rope rather than Mayweather's head but Hatton was warned for punching behind the head on numerous occasions before the deduction. Hatton became angry at the referee's decision to deduct a point from him and turned his back on him in frustration. Hatton would later claim that he had became angry by the referee and that had caused him to lose his calm and contributed to his downfall. Hatton was able to hold his own, until round eight, when Mayweather began to adapt to Hatton and started counterattacking. Mayweather knocked Hatton to the mat in Round 10. Hatton got up, but Mayweather quickly resumed his attack, resulting in Joe Cortez putting a stop to the fight, and Hatton's corner threw in the towel. Mayweather commented post-match that "Ricky Hatton is one tough fighter. He is still a champion in my eyes and I'd love to see him fight again. "Ricky Hatton is probably one of toughest competitors I've faced. I hit him with some big ones but he kept coming and I can see why they call him the 'Hitman'. The fight received large amounts of publicity, with both fighters promoting the fight heavily.

Back at Light Welterweight

Hatton vs. Lazcano

On 24 May 2008, Hatton beat Mexican Juan Lazcano by unanimous decision with scores of 120-110, 120-108 and 118-110 in front of his home crowd of 55,000 (a post-World War II record for a boxing match in Britain) at City of Manchester Stadium to retain The Ring Magazine and IBO light welterweight titles. Hatton did well when he boxed and controlled the range, utilizing his jab and dominating a lot of the early exchanges. In round eight, Hatton absorbed a left hook to the chin that wobbled him, and in round ten, Hatton was hurt again by a left hook. Despite that, Hatton outworked Lazcano to win a large majority of the rounds.

Hatton vs. Malignaggi

Ricky Hatton will fight Paulie Malignaggi of the United States at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas on November 22 of this year for Hatton's IBO Light Welterweight title. . He will be trained for this fight by Floyd Mayweather, Sr.

Outside the ring

Hatton is a passionate supporter of Manchester City Football Club, with strong links to the club via his father and grandfather, who are both former players. Ricky also once had a trial at City for the youth team. His entrance music is the club's song "Blue Moon" as performed by the band "Supra". Good friend Wayne Rooney, who plays for arch rivals Manchester United, has been with Hatton in his dressing room before a bout and carried one of his belts to the ring. Ricky's best friend is Lee Rawsthorne, who regularly carries Ricky's belt into the ring. Hatton is also good friends with another footballer, Joey Barton, a former Manchester City player. Ricky also follows the non-league football club Hyde United and often attends home matches. In a recent appearance on "Al Murray's Happy Hour" he admitted that if he could hit one celebrity, it would be Cristiano Ronaldo who plays for Manchester United.

Regarding his nickname, Ricky said, "I've always been a fan of Tommy Hearns, and everybody associates that that's where I got it from, but everybody's a Tommy Hearns fan. I got the nickname the first day I walked in the gym. I was 10 years old and put a pair of gloves on and started walloping the bag, and my amateur coach said, 'Look at him, look how evil he is. He's a little Hitman.'"

Hatton is sometimes referred to by boxing fans as "Ricky Fatton" because he's been known to allow himself to weigh as much as 175 to 180 pounds (35 to 40 pounds over his fight weight) when he's not in training for a fight. Ever since Hatton turned professional, he has always opted to eat a full English breakfast before fights - his favourite place in Hyde is The Butty Box in Mottram Road, where he was interviewed by Gaby Logan for Inside Sport; and he is known to drink Guinness on Thursday night when he plays darts for the New Inn. Hatton defends his diet, citing that he plans to retire within the next four major bouts - experts have used his ill-balanced diet, akin to Jake La Motta's ballooning up between fights, to explain his poor performances in recent fights, and nature to tire towards the end of fights. Hatton also appeared on ITV1's daytime show Loose Women in August 2007, stating that the reason why he puts on weight between fights is because "I have a lot on my plate at the moment".

Hatton appeared on the Friday Night with Jonathan Ross show in March 2007. When the host, Ross placed some pads on his hands and gave Hatton gloves to hit them with, he knocked a pad clean off Ross's hand with a powerful left hook. Interviewed on ITV1's Parkinson on October 13 2007, at the beginning of the interview, Hatton handed Michael Parkinson a custom made pair of boxing shorts with 'Mike' and 'Parky' written on them, the shorts had the Barnsley FC emblem on them and were coloured red and blue, Barnsley FC's colours, because Parkinson supports Barnsley FC. While talking about Floyd Mayweather's arrogance, Hatton said "if there was such a thing as re-incarnation, Floyd would come back as himself".

Hatton received the award of MBE for services to sport in the 2007 New Year's Honours List.

Hatton has recently started hosting his own live chat show called Ricky Speaks on Sunday 11pm on Nuts.TV(sky guide 196 / freeview 42).

Family

Hatton's mother, Carol, still works on the carpet stall on Glossop Market in the Peak District. His father Ray is his manager, and also manages his brother and fellow boxer Matthew Hatton. Ricky and his girlfriend Jennifer Dooley live in his house, the "Heartbreak Hotel" named after his favourite artist Elvis, in Hyde.

Hatton has a son, Campbell, conceived after a short reconciliation with ex-girlfriend Claire. Long before he was a big-money earner, Hatton set up a trust fund to make sure his son was always provided for, and sees him every day.

Charity

Hatton is a supporter of 'The Village News', Haughton Green's local children's newspaper made by children in aid of charity. Hatton supported them at a charity auction by appearing and signing boxing gloves, with the evening raising £1,600. Ricky was also recently a special guest-speaker for The Toby Henderson Trust at a sportsmans' dinner at the Gosforth Marriott Hotel. Thanks to Ricky's help via donations and a highly successful auction, a lot of money was raised for the Centre for First Inistuitives in Crosby Liverpool.

Fans

Hatton has attracted many fans who are very vocal in their support during fights. The main chant is a modified version of the popular Christmas song "Winter Wonderland", with the lyrics changed to promote Hatton;

There's only one Ricky Hatton,
One Ricky Hatton,
Walking along,
Singing this song,
Walking in a Hatton wonderland.

Hatton fans also like to taunt the opponent by singing "Who are ya?", a popular British football chant.

Along with Floyd Mayweather, Hatton is referenced by New York rapper GZA on the track 'Paper Plates' from his 2008 album Pro Tools.

Championships

The Ring magazine's World Light Welterweight Champion
IBO World Light Welterweight Champion
Former 2x IBF World Light Welterweight Champion
Former WBA World Light Welterweight Champion
Former WBA World Welterweight Champion
Former WBU Light Welterweight Champion
Former British Light Welterweight Champion
Former WBO Inter-Continental Light Welterweight Champion
Former WBA Inter-Continental Light Welterweight Champion
Former British Central Area Light Welterweight Champion
The Ring magazine's 2005 'Fighter of the Year'
ABA National Champion Light Welterweight 1997
ABA National Junior Champion (Class A) Light Welterweight 1995,1996
ABA National Junior Champion (Class B) Light Welterweight 1997
ABA National Junior Champion (Class C) Light Welterweight 1994.

Professional boxing record

Result	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location
44 Wins (33 knockouts, 9 decisions, 1 disqualification), 1 Loss, 0 Draws
Win	Juan Lazcano	Decision	12	June 24, 2008	Manchester, UK
Loss	Floyd Mayweather, Jr.	TKO	10 , 1:35	December 8, 2007	Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	José Luis Castillo	KO	4 , 2:16	June 23, 2007	Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	Juan Urango	KO	12	January 20, 2007	Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	Luis Collazo	Decision	12	May 13, 2006	Boston, Massachusetts
Win	Carlos Maussa	KO	9 , 1:10	November 26, 2005	Sheffield, UK
Win	Kostya Tszyu	TKO	11 , 3:00	June 4, 2005	Manchester, UK
Win	Ray Oliveira	KO	10 , 1:38	December 11, 2004	London, UK
Win	Michael Stewart	TKO	5 , 2:57	October 1, 2004	Manchester, UK
Win	Carlos Vilchés	KO	12	June 12, 2004	Manchester, UK
Win	Dennis Pedersen	TKO	6 , 2:32	April 3, 2004	Manchester, UK
Win	Ben Tackie	Decision	12	December 13, 2003	Manchester, UK
Win	Aldo Nazareno Rios	TKO	10 , 0:01	September 27, 2003	Manchester, UK
Win	Vince Phillips	Decision	12	April 5, 2003	Manchester, UK
Win	Joe Hutchinson	KO	4 , 1:16	December 14, 2002	Newcastle, UK
Win	Stephen Smith	Disqualification	2	September 28, 2002	Manchester, UK
Win	Eamonn Magee	Decision	12	June 1, 2002	Manchester, UK
Win	Mikhail Krivolapov	TKO	9	February 9, 2002	Manchester, UK
Win	Justin Rowsell	TKO	2	December 15, 2001	London, UK
Win	Freddie Pendleton	KO	2	October 27, 2001	Manchester, UK
Win	John Bailey	TKO	5	September 15, 2001	Manchester, UK
Win	Jason Rowland	KO	4 , 2:08	July 7, 2001	Manchester, UK
Win	Tony Pep	TKO	4	March 26, 2001	London, UK
Win	Jon Thaxton	Decision	12	October 21, 2000	London, UK
Win	Ross Tilley	TKO	5 , 1:57	September 23, 2000	London, UK
Win	Gilbert Quiros	KO	2	June 10, 2000	Detroit, Michigan
Win	Ambioris Figuero	KO	4	May 16, 2000	Warrington, UK
Win	Pedro Alonso Teran	TKO	4	March 25, 2000	Liverpool, UK
Win	Leoncio Garces	TKO	3	January 29, 2000	Manchester, UK
Win	Mark Winters	KO	4 , 0:51	December 11, 1999	Liverpool, UK
Win	Bernard Paul	TKO	4	October 9, 1999	Manchester, UK
Win	Mark Ramsey	Decision	6	July 17, 1999	Doncaster, UK
Win	Dillon Carew	TKO	5	May 29, 1999	Halifax, UK
Win	Brian Coleman	KO	2	April 3, 1999	London, UK
Win	Tommy Peacock	TKO	2	February 27, 1999	Oldham, UK
Win	Paul Denton	KO	6	December 19, 1998	Liverpool, UK
Win	Kevin Carter	KO	1	October 31, 1998	Atlantic City, New Jersey
Win	Pascal Montulet	KO	2	September 19, 1998	Oberhausen, Germany
Win	Anthony Campbell	Decision	6	July 18, 1998	Sheffield, UK
Win	Mark Ramsey	Decision	6	May 30, 1998	Bristol, UK
Win	Karl Taylor	TKO	1	April 18, 1998	Manchester, UK
Win	Paul Salmon	KO	1	March 27, 1998	Telford, UK
Win	David Thompson	KO	1 , 1:25	January 17, 1998	Bristol, UK
Win	Robbie Alvarez	KO	4	December 19, 1997	New York City, New York
Win	Colin McAuley	TKO	1	September 11, 1997	Widnes, UK