“There’ll never be another Ricky Hatton” | Touching tribute from Adam Smith

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Adam Smith pays a touching tribute after British boxing great and former world champion Ricky Hatton dies aged 46.

#boxing #rickyhatton #boxingnews

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It’s been a a a shocking day. Um heartbreaking. Um really sad. Um and something I’ve I’ve I’m struggling to come to terms with. Um Ricky was such a wonderful human being. Um everybody at Sky worked with him so closely. Um we had an incredible journey, a ride with him. Um from when he was 18 and turned professional um all the way through a a sparkling career. uh but just not not what he did inside the ring. It was everything he was he was known for outside the ring. He was so popular. He was down to earth. He was um a wonderful family member, a friend, um so kind and always wanted to be one of the people. He never wanted any heirs and graces. He told me very early in his uh his pro journey that he he didn’t want to be one of these guys that was aloof and uh away from the public. He was very much in the heart of the Hyde community. He kept the same friends from the local estate. And of course, as he got bigger and bigger and the celebrity friends came in, he was it was whether it was the Gallaghers or Wayne Rooney or or you know, Duck from the estate, his mate. It was um he was he was just a man of the people and um a fabulous fighter. Uh, and somebody that working in broadcasting with Sky in those sort of early days in the mid ‘9s and as boxing was developing when Frank Warren brought his stable over from ITV, we got really close to Ricky. You know, he’d often just throw us the keys to the house and say, “Go in and make make yourself a brew and and and be at home with my parents, Carol and Ray and Matthew.” And we got to know them really well. They were part of our family really. And uh I’ve I’ve we’ve reached out to each other today, the the Sky Boxing family who were there at that time. And it’s been um it’s been a very very sad and and and and shocking day for for all of us. And he’s such a loss. He’s just such a loss in in in in sport, in life. What Anthony Qual said there is absolutely right. He wasn’t just a brilliant fighter and a brilliant coach. He was a brilliant man. The words that you use there, Adam, the people’s champion. I mean, it’s a nickname that every fighter would dream of earning, but it was just absolutely perfect, wasn’t it, for Ricky? It really just summed him up. That’s what he was, Cla. He um he snowballed as well. He was popular in Manchester, but then it just got almost out of control. Took over 30,000 to Vegas for the Mayweather fight. And yeah, we we just enjoyed the whole the whole ride with him. Um he he he’d had a pint with most of the people in the Manchester Arena and the 15,000 became 22,000 for the huge night when he toppled Kosis Hugh the the wonderful moment one of the best nights ever I think in British boxing um the early hours of June the 5th 2005 and uh yeah and I think from there to take all the fans to Vegas they just love Ricky they just wanted to be around him and uh he was just so down to earth and and so funny um he was a great rack on tour a great after in a speaker as well um after his retirement and uh he was just fun to be around. He was a massive fan of Only Fools and Horses. He was always playing pranks. He was just uh he was great, good darts player. Um lovely, lovely, lovely lad. And uh you my family got very close to him. And as I said, the skyboxing family did. We uh we were broadcasters, but we um we rode together and uh we had some of the the greatest times. Um, my cameraman David Kaine and I spent so much time in that Hatton household and and the parents Carol and Ray and brother Matthew just just all around us and it was it was a unique insight into a wonderful athlete. He was a brilliant amateur, a fantastic professional, had a great relationship with Billy Graham, his trainer. Frank Warren promoted him and guided him expertly into that fight with Kosu. And then of course he fought the likes of Mayweather and and Pacquiao and just losing to two of the of the greats. No disgrace there. He was always exciting, always fan friendly style and um and just great outside of the ring. And that’s where he really got his props. It you he had he had the fry up on the morning of the of the fight. He he’d have a pine of Guinness in the in the hotel bar afterwards. He was just accessible. And I think that um in this day and age, you don’t quite have that relationship with athletes. We were very very spoiled with Ricky Hatton. I don’t think there’ll ever be another Ricky Hatton in terms of what he achieved and his popularity amongst the the British public, but I don’t think there’ll ever be another Ricky Hatton as as a fighter that you can work so closely with. We were Yeah, we were really fortunate and there were wonderful times. Um Ricky’s documentary is a powerful and it’s it’s brutally honest look at his personal life and his battles with his mental health. Can his bravery in opening up and talking be such a big legacy for others to follow? Absolutely. Um Ricky Hatton MBE MBE not just for his achievements in the ring but for everything he stood for outside. He wore his heart on his sleeve. He was very open about his his struggles. He he really found it difficult to come to terms especially with the the second defeat to Manny Pacquiao. Um I think that haunted him and um yeah he was he was very open with his mental health battle and uh and and and the sadness and and and the shock I think here and I’ve heard Steve Bunts talk about it today as well is that I saw Ricky a few weeks ago and and he was in great spirits. He was uh just preparing for an exhibition fight in December. I was talking to his cutsman and uh and and one of his coaching team Kerry Kay’s last night in Belfast and he’d been asked to work the corner and it was sort of all full steam ahead for that. He seemed very settled. Uh a father of course, a grandfather now really enjoying that. And so that I think was the that was the really really horrible thing to hear this morning that just the suddeness of it all because as I said when I last saw him he was in he was in great spirits. But you know Ricky was was just such a lovely guy to be around. He always had time for everyone. He made everybody feel welcome. It didn’t matter who you were, what role you played. He he just he he’d have a crack with everyone. And uh you know we had some amazing times inside that Billy Billy Graham gym. Um he had some wonderful Manchester fighters that he rolled with like Anthony Crawler and and Michael Gomez, Anthony Farnell, Matt Macklin of course uh from Sky that so many of them just loved Ricky. Jamie Moore was a big friend of his as well, the trainer now. And uh he’s devastated as we all are today. It really is a very very sad day uh for boxing uh and for sport and you know and for life. you know, we’ve lost him too soon. Very much so. Could you just sum up finally for us, Adam, what his boxing legacy will be? Well, he’ll go down as as one of the great fighters that we’ve produced in in British boxing. No doubt about that. He was a a two-weight world champion. And and maybe he he won’t be remembered like a Joe Kzagi or a Lennox Lewis or a John Conte, but he’s he’s not far behind them. So, I think he’ll be um his legacy is there. Uh he was an exciting fighter. He was a a technically astute fighter. He was a very courageous fighter, too. Um yes, he lost to two of the of the greats of the modern era in Mayweather and Pacquiao, but he beat everybody else. And uh I think it’s not just his 45 wins, his his boxing um legacy inside the square circle that he’ll be remembered for. It’s everything he did outside of it. As I said, everybody felt when they went to a Ricky Hatton fight as though they knew him and some did. And even if they didn’t, they they probably would get to know him. And uh I think that popularity, we’ve had Henry Cooper and Frank Bruno over the years, but I think Ricky Hatton almost eclipse that. He was uh he was unique. Um there won’t be another certainly there won’t be a Manchester City fanatic who can unite Manchester and have like Rio Ferdinand carrying his his belting. You know, he was mates with Wayne Rooney. you know, United and City became like that when Ricky was fighting and uh yeah, he was a he was a very very special individual and and as I said, he’ll be sorely missed. It’s a really really sad day for for me, for the Sky Boxing family and and for my family, too. We’ll uh we’ll really miss Ricky.