The news of the passing of Ricky Hatton this past weekend has sent shockwaves throughout not only the boxing world, but the sporting world as a whole.
Hatton, nicknamed The Hitman, died at the age of 46, and it was his long-serving manager who found his body after a visit to the boxer’s home in Manchester on the Sunday morning.
Paul Speak managed Hatton throughout his career, and only a couple of weeks ago tweeted pictures of himself with his client and friend at a couple of events, along with putting in the work at the gym ahead of what would have been a planned return to the ring in December.
BBC commentator, Steve Bunce, revealed the news on 5Live’s ‘Remembering Ricky Hatton’ programme, where he said that Speak became concerned after Hatton failed to attend a boxing show on Saturday night.
Ricky Hatton Missed Events Which Raised Concerns
“He filled me in on a few details about the Friday night and the Saturday night. On the Saturday night, Ricky hadn’t gone to a boxing show.
“Speaky had found out Sunday morning. Speaky went round and let himself into the house. In fact, it was Paul Speak who found his great friend and the people’s champion Ricky Hatton.
“Speaky deserves a little bit of love. You can’t even begin to imagine. It’s a 25-year relationship they’ve had as his commercial and business manager, but more than that, it’s his close friend. It’s his confidant. I can’t think of another relationship like it in sport to be perfectly honest. So Speaky was the one that found him.”
Also on the programme was former boxer Stacey Copeland, a close friend of Hatton’s who said she last saw him on Thursday at his gym.
“He’d just finished training. He was due to be in Dubai Monday to sign a contract for a fight he was due to have in December against UAE fighter Eisa Al Dah.
“He was saying he had a problem with his elbow. It was starting to hurt. We just had a bit of a joke, saying ‘you are knocking on now Rick’. That was it. To say it was a shock is a massive understatement.”
Ricky Hatton’s Lasting Legacy
Hatton held multiple world championships in the light welterweight division, and one at welterweight. In 2005, he was named Fighter of the Year by The Ring Magazine, the Boxers Writing Association of America, and ESPN. His last fight was in November 2012, where he was defeated by Vyacheslav Senchenko, before announcing his retirement immediately after.
He was a passionate Manchester City fan, and the club held tributes to him before Sunday’s Manchester derby against United, which they won 3-0.
Wayne Rooney had the privilege of carrying Hatton’s belt into the ring in Las Vegas for one of his fights, and he led tributes, saying: “To hear that news is just devastating. I have been in Ricky’s company many times, carried his belt into the ring against Jose Luis Castillo in Las Vegas, and it is one of the most nervous I think I have been.
“Standing in his dressing room and just thinking ‘I hope he doesn’t lose tonight’.
“I think he is just someone everyone loved. He is someone everyone can relate to. I think so often nowadays you see any type of celebrity, and you see a lot of them are not really relatable, and Ricky was certainly relatable.
“It is heartbreaking, and I just want to pay condolences to his family and everyone who was really close to him because it is way too soon.”