Ricky ‘The Hitman’ Hatton was laid to rest in Manchester on Friday and tens of thousands of people turned out to pay their respects to one of British boxing’s all-time greats
Manchester’s love for Ricky Hatton was clear for all to see – as tens of thousands lined the streets to say goodbye.
Shop, offices and factories emptied as people packed the pavements to pay their respects to the sporting icon. Standing outside the Cheshire Cheese pub in Gee Cross at 8.30am – over an hour before the funeral procession was due to start – a couple of hundreds of people had already gathered.
Landlord Tony Cooper, 57, summed the mood up. Fighting back tears he said: “This was his local, his home from home. He’d come in with his friends for a Guinness, watch the football and just be himself. He was a nice genuine man, it’s such a loss.”
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Then when the truck carrying boxing champ Ricky’s Del Boy style, yellow Reliant Robin came into view, the crowd burst into spontaneous applause – with chants of “There’s only one Ricky Hatton” and “Walking in a Hatton wonderland”.
The skies may have been grey, but the streets along the 12 mile route of the funeral procession were awash with colour – mostly the blue and white of Ricky’s beloved Manchester City.
Locals waved giant Ricky Hatton flags, tied balloons to shop fronts and railings and put up bunting – all to remember Ricky.
Huge crowds gathered at every point of the route with blue flares set off outside the Harehill Tavern, the pub close to the estate where Ricky grew up.
Then a huge roar went up as the cortege reached Hatton’s gym – where Ricky had been training the next generation of boxing stars.
It must have been heartening for his family to see the levels of love and support the people of Manchester had for them and Ricky.
Then when they arrived at Manchester Cathedral the level of affection people felt for Ricky would have become even clearer.
Thousands of locals joined a host of boxing stars, footballers and other celebrities to show just how much the legend meant to them.
The city had been in a state of shock a month ago as news of Ricky’s untimely death emerged.
Everyone knew he had been battling his demons, but he had a loving family and children. He always seemed happy and ready to share a joke. Friends told how he was looking forward to his comeback fight. But then the heartbreaking news came.
As daughter Millie, 13, said in her moving tribute to her dad: “Why did you feel that way? Why didn’t you reach out about the way you felt?”
We may not know the answers to those questions – but the family do know just how loved Ricky was in his home city.