By Tom Victor
Copyright walesonline
Boxing promoter Frank Warren admitted he got “p***ed off” with Ricky Hatton over the fighter’s comments about money. However, when he got to the bottom of the matter, it led to a big falling out between Hatton and his father-turned-manager Ray. Former world champion Hatton was found dead on Sunday at his home in Greater Manchester. Tributes have been paid to the 46-year-old, who had been due to return to the ring in Dubai in December. He boasted a 45-3 career record, winning his first 43 fights before losing a blockbuster pay-per-view bout against Floyd Mayweather in 2007. During his career, though, he spoke of not having enough money to buy a house – something which came to the fore in Warren’s interactions with ‘The Hitman’. “You negotiate and you only hope that the message you are giving them goes back in the way you say it to the boxer. And, a big falling out I had years ago was not with Ricky, but it was with Ricky, we never had an argument, and it was all over money, and I for a life of me couldn’t understand what that was all about,” Warren said on the Parenting Hell podcast in July. “To cut a long story short, years later, he was complaining he never had enough money to buy a house and I got quite p***ed off at it, so I just said, ‘Right, this is how much I paid him.’ And I just put it out there. “I don’t know what happened between him and his manager, who was his dad at the time, and then there was a court case not involving me, involving his former trainer, and in court, a couple of purses came out, which he was told far less than what they were paid. And they had a massive fallout.” Hatton spoke to the Manchester Evening News in 2019, opening up about that falling-out with his parents. “Ultimately, when I fell out with my parents, I hit rock bottom,” he said. “I didn’t care whether I lived or died, to be honest with you. “A few of my school friends are the same age as me, their parents were having heart attacks, and I was going to their funerals. And I thought to myself, ‘I’m 40 now, I’m at an age where our parents might not be here much longer’. “So if their parents are getting ill and passing away and all that, it’s not going to be long before mine go. I just made the effort to think, ‘Listen, you know, let bygones be bygones, leave things in the past. That’s it’.” Warren said it took Hatton a long time to come to terms with what happened. ” I mean, if you can’t trust your dad, who can you trust,” he questioned, saying it was “a pretty awful thing” for the boxer to deal with as it “gave him a lot of problems.” “He started boozing and doing other things he shouldn’t be doing,” Warren added, clarifying that any bad blood between him and Hatton was water under the bridge. “And it was sad. It took him a long time to come to terms with it, if indeed he has come to terms with it. He’s a great fella, Ricky.” The promoter pointed to Hatton’s 2005 victory over Kostya Tszyu as the highlight of his career, and indeed he himself had spoken in similarly glowing terms. “Once you retire, it’s hard to replace that feeling,” he would later say. “It’s probably the reason why I struggled with retirement. It was a dream. People tell me it was their best night in Manchester. It doesn’t matter what money you have, that is worth more. It’s worth everything.” The victory over Tszyu was a 39th on the spin for Hatton and ended up being the second and final defeat for the Australian. It earned the Brit the IBF and The Ring light-welterweight titles, which he defended before stepping up to welterweight to take on Mayweather in Las Vegas. Hatton’s final fight as a pro came against Vyacheslav Senchenko in 2012, three years after a defeat to Manny Pacquiao prompted a break from the sport. He had been due back in the ring against Eisa Al Dah before his untimely death. Hatton’s family have led tributes in which they have asked for privacy. “As a family, our loss is immeasurable, and words cannot truly capture the pain we feel. Yet in the midst of our grief, we have been deeply moved by the overwhelming outpouring of love and support,” they said in a statement, released via Greater Manchester Police. “It has been a source of great comfort to see just how many lives Richard touched, and how widely he was admired and respected. At this time, we kindly ask for privacy as we come to terms with life without him. “In the days and weeks ahead, we will take strength from one another and from the knowledge that Richard’s legacy — both in boxing and as a man — will continue to live on. Richard’s memory will forever remain in our hearts, in the hearts of his fans, and in the sport he loved so dearly.” Whatever you are going through, you don’t have to face it alone. Call Samaritans for free on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit www.samaritans.org for more information.
