Former two-division world champion, Ricky Hatton, has revealed his boxing hero, as he looked back to one of the sport’s greatest quartets, the ‘four kings.’
Hatton was adored in both his hometown of Manchester and across the whole of the United Kingdom during his time in the ring, winning the super-lightweight world title in a career-best performance against Kostya Tszyu in 2005.
Whilst many idolised ‘The Hitman’, he himself looked up to the greats of the 1980s, where the middleweight division was at its peak.
In an interview with Boxing King Media, Hatton showed his respect to the ‘four kings’, admitting that Roberto Duran was his hero as a child.
“Roberto Duran, he was my hero. Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard, they all boxed each other, they are all greats of our sport.”
“What an era that was for our sport.”
The Mancunian will not be alone in his admiration of fan-favourite, Duran, who is just the second boxer in history to have competed across five decades, alongside Jack Johnson.
‘Hands of Stone’ retired with a monstrous record of 103-16, with his aggression and brawling style of fighting making that record all the more impressive.
Although his record against his fellow ‘kings’ was just 1-4, his rivalry with Leonard went down as one of the greatest of all-time and the fact that he was competing amongst some of the most prestigious middleweights, despite beginning his career as a super-featherweight, shows the level of skill and fearlessness that Duran represented.
Hatton returned to the ring last year, where he rolled back the years against Marco Antonio Barrera, but nowadays he is more focussed on his son, Campbell, who also campaigns in the super-lightweight division.
Campbell will look to improve on his 11-0 record on Saturday night, as he faces Michal Bulik on the undercard of Leigh Wood’s rematch with Mauricio Lara in Manchester.