Richard John Hatton MBE (born 6 October 1978) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 1997 and 2012, and has since worked as a boxing promoter and trainer. During his boxing career he held multiple world championships at light-welterweight and one at welterweight. BoxRec ranks Hatton as the 11th greatest European boxer of all time and 5th greatest British boxer of all time, pound for pound. In 2005 he was named Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine, the Boxing Writers Association of America, and ESPN.
In 2000, Hatton won the British light-welterweight title, followed by the World Boxing Union (WBU) title the following year; he made a record fifteen successful defences of the latter from 2001 to 2004. He reached the pinnacle of his career in 2005 by defeating Kostya Tszyu for the International Boxing Federation (IBF), Ring and lineal titles. This was followed up later that year with a victory over Carlos Maussa to claim the World Boxing Association (WBA) title (Super version), thereby becoming a unified light-welterweight world champion.
Making his welterweight debut in 2006, Hatton won a tough fight against WBA champion Luis Collazo to win a world title in his second weight class. A return to light-welterweight in 2007 saw him win the vacant IBF title for a second time, as well as the International Boxing Organization (IBO) title. In the same year, Hatton had his career first defeat against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in an attempt to win the World Boxing Council (WBC), Ring and lineal welterweight titles. This defeat took a severe toll on Hatton’s wellbeing, as did a second defeat in 2009 when he lost his IBO, Ring and lineal light-welterweight titles to Manny Pacquiao.
After Hatton’s career was put on a long hiatus, rumours of a comeback continued to circulate the media over the next several years. In 2011, Hatton announced his retirement from the sport, but in 2012, more than three years after his last fight, he confirmed his comeback. A loss to Vyacheslav Senchenko in his first match back prompted Hatton to immediately announce his final retirement.
Hatton has been lauded as one of the most beloved and popular British boxers of all time, with a raucous fan base that travelled in their tens of thousands across the Atlantic to support him.
Ricky Hatton Net Worth $40 Million
Net Worth: $40 Million
Date of Birth: Oct 6, 1978 (44 years old)
Place of Birth: Stockport
Gender: Male
Height: 5 ft 7 in (1.71 m)
Profession: Professional Boxer, Promoter
Nationality: United Kingdom
Ricky Hatton is a former professional boxer who has a net worth of $40 million. Ricky Hatton competed between 1997 and 2012. During that time, he held multiple world championships at light welterweight, and made a record 15 successful defenses of the WBU title. Hatton also won a world title at welterweight in 2006. He is widely celebrated as one of the most popular British boxers in history.
Ricky Hatton had just three losses in his career, all of them happening in the five final matches of his boxing career. One of his three losses came to Manny Pacquiao, causing Hatton to put his career on permanent hiatus. For the bout against Pacquiao, Ricky earned a career high $20 million paycheck. When he returned, he lost again and in November 2012, announced his permanent retirement. Ricky Hatton is a huge soccer fan and lifelong supporter of Manchester City, where his father and grandfather both played.
Early years
Born in Stockport, Hatton was raised on the Hattersley council estate in Hyde, Greater Manchester and trained at the Sale West ABC (Racecourse Estate). He was educated at Hattersley High School. His grandfather and his father both played football for Rochdale and Hatton had a trial for the youth team. He found a local boxing club in Hyde to train at. His entrance music is the Manchester City club song “Blue Moon”, as performed by the band “Supra.” Aged 14, Hatton was taken by his uncles Ged and Paul to Manchester United‘s Old Trafford stadium to watch the second fight between Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank. He joined the family carpet business on leaving school, but after he cut four of his fingers with a Stanley knife, his father made him a salesman to prevent him from losing his fingers.
Amateur career
Hatton had a short amateur career, in which he won seven British titles and represented his country at the 1996 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships. His elimination in the semi-finals caused controversy. Four of the five judges awarded the contest to Hatton, but under the scoring rules Hatton was defeated as the fifth judge gave the match to Hatton’s opponent by 16 points. The judge was later found to have accepted a bribe, and disillusioned with the amateur governing bodies, Hatton turned professional, aged 18. Hatton was based at Billy “The Preacher” Graham’s gym in Moss Side, where fellow boxers included Carl Thompson and Michael Gomez.
Amateur highlights
- ABA national junior champion (class C) – light-welterweight (1994)
- ABA national junior champion (class A) – light-welterweight (1995, 1996)
- ABA national junior champion (class B) – light-welterweight (1997)
- ABA national champion – light-welterweight (1997)
