Ricky Hatton<\/a>\u2019s son Campbell led emotional tributes to his late father as family, friends and fans gathered in Manchester for the funereal of the late boxing world champion described as a \u201ctrue working-class hero\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Ricky Hatton was remembered as a \u2018true working-class hero\u2019 as family, friends and fans gathered in Manchester to pay tribute to the former boxing world champion<\/p>\n
The 46-year-old, known to millions as \u2018The Hitman\u2019, was honoured at a private memorial service at Manchester Cathedral on Friday following his death at his home in Hyde, Greater Manchester, on 14 September. <\/p>\n
Thousands lined the streets to celebrate the life of the boxer who brought pride and spirit to British sport.<\/p>\n
Inside the cathedral, Ricky\u2019s 23-year-old son Campbell \u2013 who has followed his father into the ring \u2013 spoke through tears as he paid tribute to the man he called his \u201chero\u201d. <\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI can\u2019t explain how much I\u2019m going to miss you, dad, and that we won\u2019t be making any new memories \u2013 but the ones we did I will cherish forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nA message from Ricky\u2019s mother, Carol, was also read to the congregation. <\/p>\n
\nIt said: \u201c\u2018The Hitman\u2019 was adored by his army of fans \u2013 the People\u2019s Champion, and he would say that\u2019s how he would want to be remembered. Long before this accolade he was our little champion from the day he was born.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAmong the mourners were Liam Gallagher, Wayne Rooney and his wife Coleen, as well as boxers Tyson Fury and Tommy Fury. Happy Mondays members Shaun Ryder and Mark \u2018Bez\u2019\u00a0Berry, also joined comedian Paddy McGuinness, former cricketer Andrew \u2018Freddie\u2019 Flintoff and actor Dean Gaffney at the service.<\/p>\n
\nThe cortege, led by the famous yellow Reliant van from Only Fools and Horses, arrived to applause. <\/p>\n
\nRicky, a fan of the sitcom, once bought one of the original three-wheelers for \u00a34,000 and was known to drive it around his hometown. Outside, hundreds sang \u201cThere\u2019s only one Ricky Hatton\u201d as a brass band played Winter Wonderland.<\/p>\n
\nBoxing commentator Adam Smith also gave an emotional eulogy, recalling his long friendship with the Hatton family. <\/p>\n
\nHe said: \u201cGrowing up in boxing with the spiky blonde teenager was a pleasure, and an absolute riot. <\/p>\n
\n\u201cIn and out of the house, the gym, the pubs, the clubs \u2013 how we rolled with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAdam, who first met Ricky in the late 1990s while working for Sky Sports, said the boxer\u2019s down-to-earth personality made him beloved across Britain. <\/p>\n
\nHe added: \u201cIt was his love of a pint, and a fry-up which meant the nation fell head over heels \u2013 his popularity simply eclipsed everything. <\/p>\n
\n\u201cMany an evening we had at the Hatton household \u2013 even when Rick moved out he\u2019d always chuck us his front door keys: \u2018Make a brew,\u2019 he said, \u2018Make yourself at home\u2019 \u2013 nothing was a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nOutside the service, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, told Sky Sports News: \u201cRicky was a true working-class hero and you can tell that by the numbers that are here outside. <\/p>\n
\n\u201cWhen I was elected mayor, I would turn up and he\u2019d be there at a corner of an event, sometimes a very low-key event. He turned up for people \u2013 you can\u2019t say that about everybody in life but Ricky turned up for people, and that really matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nBefore the service, thousands lined the route from Ricky\u2019s local pub, the Cheshire Cheese, with stops at the Harehill Tavern, The New Inn, and Hatton\u2019s Gym, where doves were released in his honour.<\/p>\n
\nFollowing the memorial, the procession was to travel to the Etihad Stadium, home of Ricky\u2019s beloved Manchester City. <\/p>\n
\nThe boxer famously won the IBF world welterweight title in 2005 with victory over Kostya Tszyu and later fought Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in the United States.<\/p>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"10 October 2025 Ricky Hatton\u2019s son Campbell led emotional tributes to his late father as family, friends and fans gathered in Manchester for the funereal of the late boxing world champion described as a \u201ctrue working-class hero\u201d. Ricky Hatton was remembered as a \u2018true working-class hero\u2019 as family, friends and fans gathered in Manchester to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":198348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4602,12670,12678,12679,12680,3249,12677,12681,342,12669,7293,12408,8244,12682,631,3960,4226],"class_list":{"0":"post-198347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-adam-smith","9":"tag-andrew-freddie-flintoff","10":"tag-andy-burnham","11":"tag-campbell-hatton","12":"tag-carol-hatton","13":"tag-coleen-rooney","14":"tag-dean-gaffney","15":"tag-jay-dodds","16":"tag-liam-gallagher","17":"tag-mark-bez-berry","18":"tag-paddy-mcguinness","19":"tag-ricky-hatton","20":"tag-shaun-ryder","21":"tag-steve-coleman","22":"tag-tommy-fury","23":"tag-tyson-fury","24":"tag-wayne-rooney"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}