Ricky Hatton Tickets

Ricky Hatton
Richard Hatton MBE (born October 6, 1978 in Manchester) is an English boxer raised on the Hattersley council estate in Hyde, Greater Manchester, Great Britain. Two-time IBF and IBO Light Welterweight Champion, he resigned the IBF belt on 31 August 2006, only to step down to the weight class and beat Juan Urango. He was the WBA Welterweight Champion. Hatton is also the former WBU, WBA Light Welterweight Champion. He is unbeatable with a career record of 42 wins, 0 losses and 0 draws.He is the brother of boxer Matthew Hatton.

Rise to stardom
Ricky's rise to stardom started in 1999. On 5 June 2005 Hatton beat Kostya Tszyu, 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 level of the world-boxing scene. This victory was regarded as one of the best victories by an English boxer in the last 20 years. Hatton has expressed his desire to meet the most potent challengers and establish a legacy.

Moving to Welterweight
Hatton moved up a division to meet American Luis Collazo for the WBA welterweight crown, took place on 13 May 2006. He defeated Collazo in a contentious 12-round agreed decision to become the new WBA Welterweight Champion. However, Hatton abandoned this title on August 31, 2006. Hatton actually very nearly lost this session against Collazo. He was met by a man who was about to retire from boxing who got a chance to fight simply because he still had a world title. It was the worst move of Hattons career; He hasn't been the same since this fight. The near loss really shocked Hatton.

Back to Light Welterweight
His 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 has stated that the momentum for moving back down is to set up a fight with Jose Luis Castillo, another fighter currently on the top ten pound-for-pound lists.

Hobson said, We're after Ricky's old title. But the defining fight we want is the one against Castillo. We have already opened talks with Castillo's promoter Bob Arum and we are confident we can make that fight for around April time. Ricky is in a very lucrative position at the moment.

Outside the ring
Ricky Hatton is also 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 MCFC for the youth team. His entry music is the club song Blue Moon as performed by the band Supra.

Hatton is also an enthusiast of 'The Village News', Haughton Green's (Denton, Manchester) local newspaper made by children, all in support of Willow Wood Hospice (Ashton-under-Lyne). He supported them at a charity auction by appearing and signing boxing gloves to be auctioned. The evening raised ?1600 for charity.

Recently Ricky was 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 Autism Development.

Ricky received the award of MBE for services to sport in the 2007 New Year Honours List. Ricky enjoys drinking Guinness and watching all football teams on the TV.

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, he knocked a pad off Ross's hand with a killer left hook.