Ricky Hatton found dead at his home at the age of 46

Former world boxing champion Ricky Hatton has died at the age of 46.

Ricky Hatton was found dead today at his home in Hyde. Greater Manchester Police said they are not treating the death as suspicious.

A police spokesperson said: “Officers were called by a member of the public to attend Bowlacre Road, Hyde, Tameside, at 6.45am today where they found the body of a 46-year-old man. There are not currently believed to be any suspicious circumstances.”

Hatton won world titles at light-welterweight and welterweight and his all-action style made him one of the most popular fighters in the first decade of the new century.

He rose through amateur and domestic levels to pit his wits against the best boxers of his generation including Kostya Tszyu, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

Hatton’s down-to-earth demeanour also endeared him to fans across the world, and he was open about the mental health issues he endured upon his retirement from the ring.

He overcame a fallout with his family and a court case with his former trainer Billy Graham to become a successful trainer, coaching Zhanat Zhakiyanov to a world bantamweight title win in 2017.

Hatton announced in July that he would make a return to boxing in December in a professional bout against Eisa Al Dah in Dubai.

After a brief but impressive amateur career, Hatton began his journey to becoming one of the most popular British boxers in history with a victory over Colin McAuley in Widnes in 1997.

After 21 straight wins he stepped up to beat Jon Thaxton for the British light-welterweight title at Wembley Conference Centre in 2000, and proceeded to make Manchester’s then MEN Arena his own with a series of sell-out defences of his WBU light-welterweight crown.

Hatton’s big breakthrough came in June 2005 when he forced defending champion Kostya Tszyu to retire on his stool at the end of their IBF title fight at his home city arena.

His American debut came the following year with a points win over Luis Collazo in Boston, but bigger sights had already been set and the manner of his victory over Mexican great Jose Luis Castillo in Las Vegas in June 2007 stamped his ticket to greatness.

Increasingly loved by audiences for his fighting style and the hordes of boisterous fans who followed in his wake, Hatton landed a lucrative clash with Floyd Mayweather later that same year and fought bravely before succumbing to his first professional defeat.

Hatton lost little else due to the manner of his loss, and further big fights awaited him, but a subsequent meeting with Manny Pacquiao proved a step too far, and he announced his retirement after a brutal second-round loss.

Hatton struggled with retirement, returning briefly for an ill-advised loss to Vyacheslav Senchenko at his beloved home city arena after three years out of the ring in 2012. He also fought a non-scoring exhibition against Marco Antonio Barrera in 2022.

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