Former boxer Hatton was found dead at his home in Hyde on 14 September at the age of 46.
He was found unresponsive by his manager, and coroners are awaiting a final cause of death.Cricket legend Freddie Flintoff has paid tribute to his close friend Ricky Hatton and revealed the guilt he felt after his death.
Flintoff was among the mourners paying their respects as Hatton’s funeral service earlier this month, and has now paid tribute.
During an emotional interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored, he shared: “It’s quite close to home in a lot of ways.
Ricky, one of the great men, you know, I met him years ago. We did a thing for Sky Sports and I went on the pads and he started hitting me and I was a fan as well.
“He’s charming, he’s funny, our careers run parallel with each other at the height, at the same time. I went to his fights… We had nights out in the Press Club in Manchester and we’ve sung karaoke together and I never knew all these things that he was struggling with until we sat down.
“When we started talking, obviously, he was so honest about what he had been going through and what he felt. And then, as he was talking, I was, like, relating to it. I’ve felt like that, that’s what I’ve been like.
“Then it just turned into a chat about two blokes being really honest. I suppose that documentary changed and I wasn’t going to give as much away about myself but then felt obliged to actually if he’s doing this.”
He continued: “[Ricky’s] this working class hero from Manchester who goes into the ring, he fights, all heart. He’s funny. You see him like doing stand up routines at press conferences and he feels like this.
“And then obviously what’s happened over the past two weeks, it’s been devastating. For obviously his friends, his family but anyone who has been in contact with Ricky.”
Flintoff, who has spent months recovering from a near-fatal horror crash in 2022 while filming for Top Gear, and was left severe facial and rib injuries, went on to recall the last time he saw Hatton.
He said: “I sat with him a while ago on a train. I got on a train and he’d been somewhere. We sat together all the way back up to Manchester, like, quite unexpected. And I think it’s like all these things, when something like that happens and you speak and everyone says, ‘He seemed fine’, ‘he seemed all right’, ‘he was looking forward to fighting in the next few weeks out in Dubai’.
“There’s almost a guilt… How people didn’t know? And the one thing I found in recent years, over the past few years, it’s happened to more and more people.
“With Graham Thorpe in cricket who [was an] absolute great man, someone who is thought of so dearly by everyone who played with and everyone he’s coached. You just feel like, if only we would have known. But you know it’s terrible.”
It was confirmed on October 16 that an inquest into the death of Hatton has been opened and adjourned, with a full inquest scheduled for March 20.