Ricky Hatton has been found dead at his home in Greater Manchester, England.
Greater Manchester Police confirmed that his body was found at 6.45am on Sunday morning and that his death is not being treated as suspicious. He was 46 years old.
Hatton – a former world champion at junior welterweight and welterweight, one of Britain’s finest ever fighters and perhaps the most popular British fighter of them all – was preparing to return to the ring in December.
He had long spoken openly about his struggles with his mental health, suicidal thoughts, and substance abuse, and would in October have turned 47 years old.
“We can confirm that we have found a body at an address on Bowlacre Road in Gee Cross at 6.45am today, Sunday, September 14,” said a spokesman for Greater Manchester Police. “The death is not being treated as suspicious.”
Hatton had three children – Campbell, who also boxed professionally, Millie and Fearne – and he was also a grandfather. He last fought as a professional in 2012 when, after a near-four-year absence, he lost to Vyacheslav Senchenko. In 2022 he had an exhibition with Mexico’s Marco Antonio Barrera, his long-term friend and fellow retired great; in 2024 he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
He recorded one of the most celebrated victories of any British fighter when, in 2005, he retired the Australian great Kostya Tszyu to win IBF junior-welterweight title on a night that proved the finest of his decorated career.
Two fights later, in 2006, he moved up to welterweight to defeat Luis Collazo and win the WBA welterweight title. The following year he then challenged the great Floyd Mayweather for the WBC title and was supported in Las Vegas by thousands of travelling fans who made their way there regardless of not having a ticket to watch the fight at the MGM Grand in which he recorded his first defeat.
His popularity among his loyal British fanbase regardless continued to grow. In his following fight, in May 2008 – in an era before the British fight scene could take for granted contests at soccer stadiums – he attracted a post-war record crowd of 55,000 to the City of Manchester Stadium, the home of his favourite soccer team Manchester City.
In Manny Pacquiao in 2009, he also later fought and lost to another of the very finest fighters of his era. It was after that defeat that, by his own admission, his personal struggles truly began.
