A biography for Ricky Hattonhasn’t been written yet.
“Ultimately when I fell out with my parents, I hit rock bottom. I didn't care whether I lived or died to be honest with you.”
“I could come in the gym to train with the boys and they'd think I was alright, but I'd go home and sit there crying.”
“Once I got beat by Mayweather I felt so ashamed. I cancelled all my functions, all my appearances, I didn't want to walk down the street. I was too embarrassed to even go and have a pint with my mates.”
“The thing is with boxers we don't come from Cambridge and places like that, we come from council estates. So in boxing it's very, very hard.”
“If, and when, I do eventually decide to retire, the announcement will be made by myself. I feel that I have earned the right to do it myself.”
“I don't want to go on forever and leaving the sport is the hardest decision.”
“I always loved training to get fit, make all those sacrifices that you do, but it just wasn't there after Pacquiao.”
“My second pro fight was at Madison Square Garden, on the undercard of Naseem Hamed's fight against Kevin Kelley.”
“The high of victory in the ring was bigger than the biggest party. You'd get in the ring and hear thousands of fans chanting your name and I'd be giving it all back for them.”
“Because of my style, I always make hard work of my contests.”
“I don't mind getting beaten by Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr and people like that, but I'd hate to go into a training camp with my heart not fully in it and risk getting beaten by somebody who shouldn't be beating me.”
“Life kicks you hard but you have to be a man to come back.”
“My mum and dad had four pubs when we were growing up, but the main one was the New Inn in Hattersley, on the estate. It was a very good pub.”
“I've fought at such a high level I couldn't have people look at me and say, 'well, he's just fought someone to knock them over.'”
“I went to the darts, went to the football, had a little pint, no airs and graces. I think that's why I had the fan base I had.”
“It's an individual sport so you get in the ring on your own and then when you retire you tend to spend the rest of your life on your own.”
“Right from the beginning I wanted to test myself against the best, against real champions.”
“The manner of my defeat against Mayweather and certainly Manny Pacquiao was a bitter pill to swallow.”
“You know if you want to be a boxer the first time you get hit on the nose.”
“Winning the world title was my goal as a kid, but being the pound-for-pound champion would be the ultimate.”