Ricky Hatton’s mother recalls last hug with boxing champion three days before he took his own life a year ago as parents speak out for first time
Ricky Hatton’s mother has recalled her last hug with him three days before he took his own life one year ago as his parents speak out for the first time.
Carol and Ray Hatton have urged people to tell their friends and family they love them before it’s too late after the boxing champion hanged himself on September 14 last year.
One year on from Ricky’s death, aged 46, his mother has revealed the last time she embraced her son.
Just days before he took his own life, the boxing champion had been in an argument with his parents but the family were ‘building bridges’.
Carol decided to make an unplanned visit to his gym in Hyde and gave him a ‘real proper hug’.
She told ITV News: ‘I pulled up on the car park because I saw his car. He asked if everything was okay.
‘I said “yeah, everything’s fine”. I said I’d like to see a bit more of him.’
Ricky’s mother said he told her he wanted to see his father Ray the next week. However Ricky died three days later.
Former world boxing champion Ricky Hatton died by suicide in September last year aged 46
Ray and Carol Hatton (pictured at their son’s funeral) have urged people to tell their friends and family they love them before it’s too late
Ricky had previously opened up about his struggle with drug and alcohol addiction and had become estranged from his parents before the reconciled
She added: ‘I’m so glad (I got to see him) because nobody knows when it’s the last time you’re going to see somebody.’
Ray, the boxer’s father, said: ‘You tell your grandkids how much you love them, you tell your wife how much you love them but I think, especially with men, don’t ever be afraid of getting hold of your son and telling him you love him.’
Ricky had become estranged from his parents for around a decade before he reached out to patch up their relationship several years before his death.
He had survived previous suicide attempts and struggled with drug and alcohol addiction.
Ricky fell out with his parents over money and despite the dispute he still allowed Carol and Ray to see his newborn daughter Millie.
However the boxer became upset when his girlfriend Jennifer was not invited to a Christmas Day party.
Months later he received letters from his parents’ lawyers saying they wanted to see their granddaughter.
But he told Manchester Evening News in 2013 that he responded by saying: ‘I replied to my parents, through solicitors, and said we did not want them to have contact with Millie.’
Carol Hatton wipes a tear from her eye while reading a statement at her home after Ricky’s death
Ricky had survived previous suicide attempts before he died in September last year
‘We have never stopped them seeing her, as far as I was concerned they had just not been ******.
‘I know that sounds harsh and I am sure they see it differently, but it is how I feel.’
He added that the situation ‘was a mess’, describing the family feud as ‘bitter and horrible’, referring to back-and-forth letters between his and his parents’ lawyers.
This culminated in his father attacking him in a car park fist fight.
Angry about ‘all that stuff you’ve written about your mum in that solicitor’s letter’, Ray then punched his boxing champion son in the face before Ricky hit back and his father then drove off.
But Ricky’s parents are still struggling to come to terms with his death and Carol said the couple ‘have to move forward’ but will continue ‘remembering him and loving him’.
Carol and Ray have now called for a statue of Ricky to be erected in Manchester, saying it would be a ‘fitting tribute’ to their son who ‘brought a lot of pride’ to the city.
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