RIP Ricky Hatton

Damn. Found dead at home at 48. RIP.

 

RIP. Too young.

 

Rip

 

RIP….

Damn shame…

 

RIP, awful for family he leaves behind

 

Just saw. Holy shit. Didn't read too deeply into it yet, but did he self-exit? He always battled depression.

Regardless, RIP.

 

It was either one of two things: Suicide or a heart attack from years of hard living. I'd say most likely the former, unfortunately.

 

or lace nose candy.

 

I'd say suicide brought on by years of hard living and all that entailed.

Front page of the fucking Guardian shows you how known he was. Either that or lib media is just afraid of being passed by .

A generational talent in UK terms.....he foreshadowed -basically ushered in- the Sweet Caroline Wembley nonsense that came 20 years later with his packed out MEN Arena performances and the "Great Escape" night Vs Zoo.


That's where that all started.

And now it's all over. So it goes.

 

Thats a less likely third option.

I think he checked out. Even hard living doesn't usually manifest itself as young as 48.

They probably found him hanged; though they never disclose that in the beginning.

 

I'd put that squarely in both categories. Snorting that rat poison is hard living and it's suicidal.

Ricky went the way Frank Bruno was going.

It's hard to be the man and then live in obscurity .

 

It does sound like it, sadly.

 

Police broke in at 6.45 am.

He probably hadn't "been heard from" for some time.

 

Fucking horrible, if not unsurprising, news.

Irish said it already. Hatton leaves an incalculable legacy in British boxing. He WAS British boxing for much of the 2000s and it was his following which gave Fast Eddie the window into whatever the fuck British boxing productions are today. His fight with Zoo will always be one of the greatest nights in UK boxing.

RIP, champ.

MTF

 

Yeah, it clearly hit him hard when the fame faded. Harder than most. And let's not pretend he exactly lived the life when he was fighting.

Hatton was the stereotypical council-estate chav who managed to make fortunes to spend on the same things he would have bought if he'd laid brick instead like his mates. Likely just bought him a quicker end than them.

MTF

 

I was never the biggest fan of him as a boxer, being honest, but I would never deny the impact he had on the sport over here, he was a Goliath in British boxing in the 2000's, taking up the mantle after Hamed dipped out. I will forever have respect for the fact he ditched Warren, when he could have stayed in Manchester and milked his titles, and chased after the very best AT their best. He fell short, but I will never knock him for trying.

Also have to say, he seemed like a genuinely funny and likeable guy outside the ring, he obviously had his demons but he was himself always.

 

He was a really exciting watch prior to the Zoo fight. That win was both the best and worst thing that happened to him, in many different ways.

MTF

 

For Americans, who want to understand it, Hatton was the Ray Leonard of the time. He was the era between eras, or the phase between phases.

Pre Hatton you had Naz. Naz bridged the era between the visceral Jim Rosenthal/ITV/Finsbury Park/Someone's Gonna Fuckin Die era and the politically acceptable, sanitised, slick, its-all-about-me, Naz thing....boxing goes from a do-oor- die thing to "you can be a huge star and keep your brains"

After Naz you get Hatton, where everybody was along for the ride. It was inclusive, no ridiculous £99.99 pay per view nonsense, good but not lethal.opponents, fun times, nobody gets hurt nights and good, chummy interviews, with cartoon villains like Witter in the background.

But you could see the milking coming I to it. Just too many WBU fights. A bit too much Mucky Nicky Vann. A lot of Sugar Oliveiras and Job Thaxtons and Magoos and Steven Smiths.

You could see the template that Fast Eddie would apply on a nuclear scale.

After that, AJ comes in, knowledge goes out the window, it's all stage management, sing when we say sing, sing what we say you sing, we'll do the rest, it's an event, have fun, AJ is the good guy, Fury is the bad guy, age is just a number, he's not really that fat, just enjoy yourself, Sweetest Carooooline....look at these scenes just look at these scenes!!


Fuck knows what comes next. Probably a lot of mediocrity.

 

He thought he could walk through lightning after that.

 

BBC article says he was "raised in the local pub".

I don't even think that's a typo.

 

He did. But he couldn't, at all. He was already very old for his age. He was basically a professional fighter who lived the life of a professional darts player. The Collazo fight should have been a warning, but Hatton was at his epoch then, so no fucks would or could be given. It's sad that the defining image of him in my mind, as someone who watched every fight he had and loved what he did for the sport here, was him lying nearly dead in the middle of the ring after four minutes of Manny. It was always likely to end like that, and ultimately like this.

MTF

 

Spot on.

MTF

 

I think in my mind, since Bruno fought Witherspoon, no Brit was able to draw 40k+ to a fight against a non-Brit until Hatton drew 50k against Lazcano at Manchester Stadium

 

Yes. Collazo was a wake up. But it was swept under the rug. "I had a flu' or "first time at 147 Vs a big man".....it's hard to push back when the £ is rolling in.

And the break with Billy Graham also spoke volumes. He'd gotten tired with the drinking and the ballooning.

It's unfortunate that we keep coming back to these post mortems of people who should really be still here and thriving.

 

I think Frank Vs McCall was at Wembley Stadium in 1995 but I don't know about the attendance.

 

Terrible

 

Grew up in a pub. Gym was in the pub.

 

sad stuff…RIP

cause of death?

did he get the jab?

 

RIP

 

Smfh not even I would say that,Mustard