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Ricky Hatton
Born	Richard Hatton (1978-10-06) 6 October 1978 (age 46) Stockport, Greater Manchester, England
Nationality	British
Other names	The Hitman The Manchester Mexican The Pride of Hyde
Statistics
Weight(s)	Super lightweight
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	44
Wins	44
Wins by KO	32
Losses	0

Richard Hatton MBE (born 6 October 1978, in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England), is an English boxer. He is seen by many as one of the greatest British fighters of all-time and is ranked among the best pound for pound boxers in the world by Ring Magazine.

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 31 August 2006. Hatton is also the former WBU, WBA Light Welterweight Champion and WBC, WBA, WBO Inter-Continental Light Welterweight Champion. He is undefeated with a career record of 43 wins (32 by KO), 0 losses and 0 draws.

Biography

Born in Stockport, Greater Manchester, Hatton was raised on the Hattersley council estate in Hyde, Greater Manchester.

Both his grandfather and father played for Manchester City Football Club, and Hatton 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 FC 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 cutting three of his fingers his father made him a salesman to protect his body.

Hatton adopted his "Hitman" nickname from professional wrestler Bret Hart rather than from fellow boxer Thomas Hearns.

Boxing career

Hatton's debut fight was on 11 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.

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.

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. Promoters Art Pelullo/Banner Promotions and Dennis Hobson/Fight Academy, in association with Top Rank, Inc., presented the fight card 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 agreed to terms on Friday July 27, for a December 8, 2007 welterweight fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr which is 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. This fight was agreed less than three months after Mayweather had said he planned to retire following a victory over Oscar De La Hoya. The fight will pit a pair of unbeaten fighters to decide who is the best pound for pound fighter. The fight has received much publicity, with both fighters promoting the fight heavily.

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.

Hatton is a fan of wrestling, having taken his Hitman moniker from wrestler 'Hitman' Bret Hart. Hatton is good friends with Manchester's UK Wrestling star 'The Guvnor' Mickey Francis and will be appearing as a guest referee at the UK's first ever wrestling 'supershow' Manchester Mania at the Manchester Velodrome, following in the footsteps of Mohammad Ali who appeared as guest referee at the WWE's Wrestlemania 1.

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 colored red and blue, Barnsley FC's colors, 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.

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. When she told Hatton she was pregnant, the then 22-year-old did everything he could to be a good dad. 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:

Are you there, Ricky Hatton?
Can you hear me, Ricky Hatton?
A beautiful sight
We're happy tonight
Walking with the Ricky Hatton man

Championships

• The Ring magazine's World Light Welterweight Champion
• IBO World Light Welterweight Champion
• WBC International 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'

Professional boxing record

43 Wins (31 knockouts, 11 decisions, 1 disqualification), 0 Losses, 0 Draws
Res.	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
Win	Floyd Mayweather, Jr.			December 8 2007	Las Vegas, Nevada	Bout for Mayweather's WBC Welterweight title.
Win	José Luis Castillo	KO	4 (12), 2:16	June 23 2007	Las Vegas, Nevada	Retained IBO and won vacant WBC International Light Welterweight titles. the WBC International title was later vacated.
Win	Juan Urango	Decision (unanimous)	12	January 20 2007	Las Vegas, Nevada	Won IBF and vacant IBO Light Welterweight titles. The IBF title was stripped on February 11 2007.
Win	Luis Collazo	Decision (unanimous)	12	May 13 2006	Boston, Massachusetts	Won WBA Welterweight title, which was vacated on August 31 2006.
Win	Carlos Maussa	KO	9 (12), 1:10	November 26 2005	Sheffield, England	Retained IBF Light Welterweight title and won WBA Light Welterweight title. The two titles were vacated on March 29 and May 4 2006, respectively.
Win	Kostya Tszyu	TKO (corner retirement)	11 (12), 3:00	June 4 2005	Manchester, England	Won IBF Light Welterweight title.
Win	Ray Oliveira	KO	10 (12), 1:38	December 11 2004	London, England	Retained WBU Light Welterweight title, which was vacated in 2005.
Win	Michael Stewart	TKO	5 (12), 2:57	October 1 2004	Manchester, England	Retained WBU Light Welterweight title. This was an IBF Light Welterweight title eliminator bout.
Win	Carlos Vilchés	Decision (unanimous)	12	April 3 2004	Manchester, England	Retained WBU Light Welterweight title.
Win	Dennis Pedersen	TKO	6 (12), 2:32	April 3 2004	Manchester, England	Retained WBU Light Welterweight title.
Win	Ben Tackie	Decision (unanimous)	12	December 13 2003	Manchester, England	Retained WBU Light Welterweight title.
Win	Aldo Nazareno Rios	TKO (corner retirement)	10 (12), 0:01	September 27 2003	Manchester, England	Retained WBU Light Welterweight title.
Win	Vince Phillips	Decision (unanimous)	12	April 5 2003	Manchester, England	Retained WBU Light Welterweight title.
Win	Joe Hutchinson	KO	4 (12), 1:16	December 14 2002	Newcastle, England	Retained WBU Light Welterweight title.
Win	Stephen Smith	Disqualification	2 (12)	September 28 2002	Manchester, England	Retained WBU Light Welterweight title. Smith was disqualified after his trainer entered the ring, protesting a cut, caused by an apparent elbow.
Win	Eamonn Magee	Decision (unanimous)	12	June 1 2002	Manchester, England	Retained WBU Light Welterweight title.
Win	Mikhail Krivolapov	TKO	9 (12)	February 9 2002	Manchester, England	Retained WBU Light Welterweight title.
Win	Justin Rowsell	TKO	2 (12)	December 15 2001	London, England	Retained WBU Light Welterweight title.
Win	Freddie Pendleton	KO	2 (12)	October 27 2001	Manchester, England	Retained WBU Light Welterweight title.
Win	John Bailey	TKO	5 (12)	September 15 2001	Manchester, England	Retained WBU Light Welterweight title.
Win	Jason Rowland	KO	4 (12), 2:08	July 7 2001	Manchester, England	Retained WBU Light Welterweight title.
Win	Tony Pep	TKO	4 (12)	March 26 2001	London, England	Won vacant WBU Light Welterweight title.
Win	Jonathan Thaxton	Decision (points)	12	October 21 2000	London, England	Won vacant BBBofC British Light Welterweight title.
Win	Giuseppe Lauri	TKO	5 (12), 1:57	September 23 2000	London, England	Retained WBO Inter-Continental Light Welterweight title and won WBA Inter-Continental Light Welterweight title.
Win	Gilbert Quiros	KO	2 (12)	June 10 2000	Detroit, Michigan	Retained WBO Inter-Continental Light Welterweight title.
Win	Ambioris Figuero	KO	4 (12)	May 16 2000	Warrington, England	Retained WBO Inter-Continental Light Welterweight title.
Win	Pedro Alonso Teran	TKO	4 (12)	March 25 2000	Liverpool, England	Retained WBO Inter-Continental Light Welterweight title.
Win	Leoncio Garces	TKO	3 (8)	January 29 2000	Manchester, England
Win	Mark Winters	KO	4 (12), 0:51	December 11 1999	Liverpool, England	Retained WBO Inter-Continental Light Welterweight title.
Win	Bernard Paul	TKO	4 (12)	October 9 1999	Manchester, England	Retained WBO Inter-Continental Light Welterweight title.
Win	Mark Ramsey	Decision (points)	6	July 17 1999	Doncaster, England
Win	Dillon Carew	TKO	5 (12)	May 29 1999	Halifax, England	Won vacant WBO Inter-Continental Light Welterweight title.
Win	Brian Coleman	KO	2 (10)	April 3 1999	London, England
Win	Tommy Peacock	TKO	2 (10)	February 27 1999	Oldham, England	Won vacant BBBofC Central Area Welterweight title.
Win	Paul Denton	KO	6 (8)	December 19 1998	Liverpool, England
Win	Kevin Carter	KO	1 (6)	October 31 1998	Atlantic City, New Jersey
Win	Pascal Montulet	KO	2 (6)	September 19 1998	Oberhausen, Germany
Win	Anthony Campbell	Decision (points)	6	July 18 1998	Sheffield, England
Win	Mark Ramsey	Decision (points)	6	May 30 1998	Bristol, England
Win	Karl Taylor	TKO	1 (6)	April 18 1998	Manchester, England
Win	Paul Salmon	KO	1 (4)	March 27 1998	Telford, England
Win	David Thompson	KO	1 (4), 1:25	January 17 1998	Bristol, England
Win	Robbie Alvarez	Decision (unanimous)	4	December 19 1997	New York City, New York
Win	Colin McAuley	TKO	1 (4)	September 11 1997	Widnes, England

See also

• List of male boxers
• List of current world boxing champions

References

1. Anon (2005-06-24). "Birth of a British champion, but can Ricky Hatton take the pressure at this level?". nouse.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-07-07.
2. Kieran Mulvaney (2007-01-17). "Hatton finds Las Vegas stage is his calling". sports.espn.go.com. Retrieved 2007-10-01. "It makes me proud to be British"
3. ^ "Hatton gives up welterweight belt". BBC Sport. August 31, 2006. Retrieved 2007-07-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. "Taker cuts Hatton down to size". The Sun. 2007-10-18. Retrieved 2007-10-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
5. ^ Champ’s girl on life with Hatton The Sun - 5 December, 2007
6. Makin, Greg. "Ricky backs Barton to be a hit". Daily Express. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
7. Donnelly, Claire (2006-05-04). "Ricky Hatton Exclusive: My Pride at Being a Dad". Mirror. Retrieved 2007-06-30.

External links

• Official site
• Ricky Hatton's promoter - official site
• Boxing record for Ricky Hatton from BoxRec (registration required)
• Ricky Hatton AUDIO Interview: Talks Floyd Mayweather
• HBO Ricky Hatton profile

• English boxers
• Light-welterweights
• Welterweights
• World Welterweight Champions
• WBA Champions
• People from Stockport
• Members of the Order of the British Empire
• 1978 births
• Living people