Ricky Hatton was dropped by both Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, but one man sent ‘The Hitman’ to the canvas earlier on in his career in one of his closest fights.
Ricky Hatton was dropped in one of the toughest fights of his career in a defense of his WBU super lightweight title.
Hatton went on to have an impressive career as a two-weight world champion, and fell short of victory on just three occasions out of 48, when he faced Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, as well as an unsuccessful return to boxing against Vyacheslav Senchenko three years after his loss to ‘Pac-Man’.
Ricky Hatton was dropped by fierce Irishman in opening round of title fight
In 2002 in his 29th fight, Hatton took on 23-2 Eamon McGee in a defense of the WBU belt he won six fights prior against Tony Pep. Hatton overcame a cut against Jon Thaxton in his fight before, and beat Pep with a fourth-round TKO.
McGee had a 12-fight win streak going into the Hatton fight, including a win over Thaxton. This momentum seemed to work in McGee’s favor, as the Irishman dropped ‘The Hitman’ in front of his home crowd in Manchester for the first time of his professional career in the very first round.
Hatton, who KO’d Jose Luis Castillo years later, picked himself up off the canvas, but was dragged the distance in a back-and-forth encounter.
McGee became the second man after Thaxton to take Hatton the 12-round distance, with one scorecard being as close as 115-112 for Hatton.
Ricky Hatton was Tommy Fury’s first professional coach
After his career as a boxer, Hatton became a coach, with one of his charges being none other than Tommy Fury for the first portion of his pro career.
Fury worked with Hatton ahead of his break from boxing and appearance on ‘Love Island’.
Hatton revealed to The Sun that he was one of the voices advising Fury to go down the crossover boxing route with bouts against KSI and Jake Paul, both of which he won for career-high paydays:
“Tommy’s been getting a lot of stick but you can’t blame him for going down the route he’s gone, I advised him to go down that route and he’s capitalised fully on it.”
Fury’s record is currently 10-0, but he has not fought since 2023. He recently announced that his return would take place in Hungary next month. Fury was rumored to be facing Matty Floyd, though that now seems unlikely.