IT was Ricky Hatton’s final epic ring walk around his beloved Manchester.
The sounds were familiar – crowds of thousands singing ‘there’s only one Ricky Hatton.”
The late great Ricky Hatton was celebrated as one of thwe most beloved and popular British sportsmen of all time[/caption]
Ricky was laid to rest today[/caption]
The hearse carrying the coffin of Ricky Hatton is driven past spectators outside the Etihad Stadium today[/caption]
Huge crowds gathered to say goodbye[/caption]
But there were no tears of joy this time. Just sadness as thousands of fans gathered along a route that snaked through the city to say they are own final farewells.
It was a journey that told the story of his life.
From his local pub in Hyde to his beloved Etihad Stadium the champion bid a last farewell to the city he championed.
In return they turned out in force to pay their last respects to the fighter they called The Pride of Hyde.
The Ricky Hatton Memorial Route started in his local the Cheshire Cheese, a two minute walk away from his £1.7 million mansion.
The bar opened early at 9am with the funeral cortege arriving three quarters of an hour later.
Landlord Tony Cooper, 57, was out at 8am getting ready for the start of the procession.
Overcome with emotion, he struggled to find the words to describe his friend.
He said: “This was his local, his home from home. He would come in with his friends for a Guinness, watch the football just be himself.
“He was such a nice, genuine man. It is such a loss.”
More than 50 of his friends gathered outside the boozer to form a guard of honour, each holding a large City flag on either side of the road.
Computer engineer Daniel Timperley, 43, said: “We all arranged to meet here before the service to give him a send off.
“He was a great friend to all of us. He was just our mate.”
The cortege pulled up outside the pub promptly at 9.45am with Del Boy’s Reliant Robin from Only Fools and Horses on the back of a flat bed truck with a simple wreath of yellow flowers spelling out Ricky.
More than a thousand people erupted in spontaneous loud applause as the hearse bearing his coffin, emblazoned with the words Blue Moon, pulled up.
Many in the crowd could not hold back the tears, including most of the men.
The chant ‘there’s only one Ricky Hatton’ rang out as they choked back their tears in song.
In the cars behind his family wiped away tears at the rapturous reception.
Along the route of his last grand ring walk the streets were adorned with sky blue.
From tiny flags on graveyard railings to blue and black balloons outside the barbers he went for his hair cut.
City shirts were pinned to any available space.
Bread crates outside a sandwich shop were decked out with bunting and old footballing rivalries were put aside for one day for one special man.
Ricky’s ex girlfriend Claire Sweeney was overcome with emotion[/caption]
The coffin of Ricky Hatton is carried into Manchester Cathedral, by his brother Matthew Hatton and son Campbell Hatton[/caption]
Ricky during fight week before his fight against Mikhail Krivolapov[/caption]
The fighter was fondly known as ‘The People’s Champion’[/caption]
Ricky Hatton during a training session before his flight with Floyd Mayweather Jr[/caption]
United fan Dawn Shepherd, 48, was adorning her hair salon in Gee Cross with City shirts, flags and balloons.
She said: “He was such a familiar face here in the village. He was one of us.
“All the city love him no matter which team you support.
“We all loved him, he brought the city together.”
Ricky was a regular at The Dining Room in the village.
Owner Matthew Hall, 38, said: “It’s great to see the village come out and show their support for him.
“He was just Richard here. He would come in with his family for a meal or you would see him pottering around the village.
“It is such a sad day but he has brought the whole city together.”
The cortege slowly snaked its way through his beloved town towards Hattersley past the Grapes Hotel and the Harehill Tavern.
At the site of the New Inn the cortege paused and doves released in his memory.
The boozer held a special place in his heart as the place he grew up.
But it was knocked down to make way for a new smart executive housing estate.
He said once: “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. It was rare to see any fights, but every now and again it happened.
“I saw my mum knock a few out over the years, she’d ask for the glasses and they’d refuse and she’d plant one on them.
“You wouldn’t mess with my mum.”
It was in the simple looking pub that the boxing legend took his first steps.
He said: “When I was 12, my mum and dad put a little gym in the cellar for me. It was right under the vault of the pub so when I hit the bag or the speed ball all the customers could hear it.
“They used to come down and cheer me. It was a little bit dark and damp, but a lot of the old-fashioned gyms were like that.
“It was brilliant.”
Hattersley and Hyde was his home, where he could be himself and not treated as a multi-millionaire sporting superstar.
All along the streets hundreds of fans gathered to give him a final round of applause.
Next stop was Hatton’s Gym which was opened by boxing great Muhammed Ali in 2009.
It was the kind of international razzmatazz he brought to the drab Mancunian suburb he loved so much but was never distant from.
Boxers Tyson Fury, David Haye and Audley Harrison all paid their dues there to learn from the master.
Past Hyde Town Hall and Betta Bodies Gym then on to the AO Arena, the venue for some of his greatest fights.
It was here in June 2005 that the lad from the Hattersley estate became a worldwide boxing icon when he beat Kostya Tszyu in an epic fight.
In his last interview before his death last month, just after the 20th anniversary of the bout, he said: “Life changed for me and my kids and my family the moment I beat Kostya Tszyu. But I don’t think I changed too much.
”Even today, the gym that I run and the house that I have are all only 10 minutes away from the council estate I grew up on. I haven’t moved out of a 10-mile radius.
“Even with all the nice things I achieved through boxing, I still go down my local and play darts on a Monday night and play football for the vets on a Sunday afternoon.”
At Manchester Cathedral another thousand fans gathered as mourners entered the North Door of the cathedral.
A sea of sky blue clashed with the black of the boxers and pop stars, from Frank Bruno to Wayne and Coleen Rooney, to get inside.
Liam Gallagher broke away from the Oasis tour, which stops at Brighton tonight, to attend and a sombre Bez and Shaun Ryder bowed their heads as they went inside.
Ex girlfriend Claire Sweeney wiped a tear from her eye.
The Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham also joined the boxing greats as former world champion Tyson Fury, resplendent in a suit of many colours, stood outside for half an hour greeting friends.
Speakers outside the cathedral boomed out City anthem Blue Moon as the pall bearers bore his sky blue coffin inside.
Hundreds stood in silence outside as the service inside was relayed outside.
The final stop on his last ring walk was at his beloved Manchester City. Fittingly, the ‘only one Ricky Hatton’ chant was also complimented with a touching and emotional Blue Moon as the cortege waited for two minutes before leaving for the final time.
Hyde, Hattersley and Manchester, and those who came from far and wide, gave him a farewell befitting a champion.
As Ricky said: “Hattersley will always be my home, I don’t think I could ever move out of this area. It wouldn’t bear thinking about.
“What I love most about the place is that the people don’t treat me like a world champion.
“When I walk in the pub they say: ‘Come on, Fatty, get the drinks in, it’s your round.’
“I get treated like everybody else. It’s nice, I can be myself, not flannelled up and famous.
“In Hattersley I’m just Ricky.”
Yesterday, red and blue, Manchester was a city united.
The former world champion sadly passed away on October 6[/caption]
Ricky at 12 years old[/caption]
Ricky Hatton celebrates beating Freddie Pendleton in their WBU Light Welterweight fight in 2001[/caption]
