Ricky Hatton will look to roll back the years at a Manchester Arena fueled by nostalgia and emotion on Saturday night.
The 44-year-old former two-weight world champion will take on Mexican boxing great Marco Antonio Barrera in an exhibition bout to raise awareness and funds for mental health charity Andy’s Man Club.
Hatton made his hometown venue his own during a decorated professional career that established him as one of the finest British boxers of the 21st century.
His exploits also paved the way for an American adventure and Las Vegas showdowns with two of the greatest fighters ever to lace gloves.
What happened when Ricky Hatton fought Floyd Mayweather?
Hatton won his first significant title when he outpointed Jon Thaxton for the British super-lightweight title in October 2000, battling through a gruesome cut to win a unanimous decision.
Next time out he stopped former world title challenger Tony Pep in four to win the lightly regarded WBU title at 140lbs. Hatton would go on to defend the belt 15 times over the next three and a half years, with the likes of Freddie Pendleton, Vince Phillips, Eamon McGee, Ben Tackie and Ray Oliveira among his most notable victims.
The wait for a shot at major world honours was frustrating at times, but his long victorious run helped to build Hatton into a major star, frequently packing out the Manchester Arena. That meant he was able to get feared IBF champion Kostya Tszyu to agree to travel for a June 2005 title defence.
Amid a raucous atmosphere for a bout that began at 2 a.m. local time to benefit American broadcaster Showtime, Hatton was relentless and ground the formidable Tszyu down before the Australian remained on his stool ahead of the final round.
Hatton then unified the 140lbs division with a spectacular one-punch KO of WBA champion Carlos Maussa in Sheffield, heralding a Stateside jaunt.
He stepped up to welterweight to win the WBA title against Luis Collazo, although that was a torrid night for Hatton down the stretch at the Boston Garden, with a first-round knockdown helping him to get over the line on the cards.
Back down at super-lightweight, he headed to Las Vegas to outpoint Juan Urango and demolish Jose Luis Castillo with a showreel left hook to the body. Castillo pushed Floyd Mayweather Jr close over the course of two bouts and the emphatic nature of Hatton’s win paved the way for a shot at boxing’s pound-for-pound king in December 2007 at welterweight.
Mayweather and Hatton embarked upon an extensive pre-fight promotional tour for a bout dubbed ‘Undefeated’, while HBO laid on the 24/7 documentary treatment.
A sold-out MGM Grand Garden Arena awaited on fight night, packed with Hatton’s sizeable travelling support. The British contingent roared in round one when a booming jab staggered Mayweather back onto his heels.
It was a fleeting moment of success. Hatton was competitive through the first half of the fight, although Mayweather frequently picked off his attacks with beautifully timed counters. Referee Joe Cortez took an over-zealous approach to inside fighting and Hatton’s frustrations with this culminated in him being deducted a point in round six for hitting Mayweather on the back of the head.
In round eight, Mayweather really started to open up with his attacks, battering a bloodied Hatton with clean right hands. He managed to stagger out of the round but the end came two sessions later in the 10th, with Mayweather punching his foe to the canvas via the ringpost with a check left hook. Cortez waved it off as Hatton buckled under a follow-up assault.
What happened when Ricky Hatton fought Manny Pacquiao?
The Mayweather bout took place at welterweight with Money’s WBC belt on the line. Hatton moved back down to his natural weight for a homecoming bout against Juan Lazcano at the Etihad Stadium.
Despite outpointing his game Mexican foe it was a performance that showed remaining scars from the Mayweather defeat. Afterwards, Hatton parted with long-time trainer Billy Graham and his links to one of American boxing’s most famous families took an unexpected and surreal turn.
He teamed up with his tormentor’s father, Floyd Mayweather Sr, to oversee the next phase of his career. The unlikely union got off to a flying start as Hatton boxed beautifully when defending his linear 140lbs title against Paulie Malignaggi, dominating the brash New Yorker before his corner threw in the towel in round 11.
That triumphant return to the MGM Grand proved to be a false dawn. As Mayweather Jr convalesced in a brief retirement after beating Hatton, Manny Pacquiao took his slot as the sport’s pound-for-pound king.
“Nobody will ever beat me at junior-welterweight,” was Hatton’s assessment after the Malignaggi fight, but a weight-traversing Pacquiao turned those claims to dust in a brutal two-round destruction in Las Vegas.
Operating at his imperious peak, Pacquiao floored Hatton twice in round one. The Briton appeared to be tentatively working his way back into the fight in round two before Pacquiao uncorked a shuddering left hand onto Hatton’s chin, leaving him laid out in the centre of the ring.
Will Ricky Hatton fight Floyd Mayweather again?
In many respects, the defeat to Pacquiao and the nature of it sent Hatton on the long road to this weekend’s fundraiser against Barrera.
He spent three and a half years out of the ring before a final career defeat to former WBA welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko. In the interim period, Hatton grappled with depression, drug and alcohol abuse and suicidal thoughts.
Speaking with admirable frankness about these experiences made him a visible advocate for men experiencing mental health struggles and, after his cousin Stephen Nightingale took his own life aged 35 during the coronavirus lockdown, Hatton felt he had a chance to make a difference when the proposed Barrera fight was put to him.
“People know the position I was in and how I suffered with it, so if I can put on a show with Marco like I’m expecting to, I think it’ll inspire people. It’ll not only have been good for my well-being but good for a lot of other people’s well-being,” he told talkSPORT.
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“[The exhibition] was offered to me when Covid was still bad, and mental health — I suffer from my mental health — [was being tested].
“What a way to say to people, ‘Remember the state Ricky was in a few years ago; look what you can do when you set your mind to it, to turn things around’. That was another incentive.”
Coincidentally, Hatton’s old foe Mayweather is also in action this weekend in his latest lucrative exhibition bout against YouTube star Deji in Dubai. That fact alone has led to some inevitable questions.
“I’d have to look at it,” Hatton told Sky Sports News when the prospect of a Mayweather exhibition showdown was put to him. “To share the ring with Floyd Mayweather again would be something else.
“But people say to me: ‘Would you be interested in doing another one?’ And I’m thinking, hang on a minute — let’s get the first one out of the way before I start making a decision.”
Mayweather vs Hatton II, more than a decade and a half on from the original? Stranger things have happened in boxing.
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