David Kerr@davidwkerr
I wrote to Ricky Hatton in June 2007 shortly after he had beaten José Luis Castillo in Las Vegas - the fight that cleared the way for his huge bout with Floyd Mayweather jnr.
A good friend of mine from Belfast had been due to travel with his older brother to watch the Castillo fight, but his brother was tragically killed in a road traffic accident a few days before they were to travel. I explained in the letter what had happened and asked if it was possible for Ricky to send something to my friend who had not just lost his only brother, but had so much wanted to see the fight.
A few weeks passed and having heard nothing in response, I had almost forgotten about it when the postman put a card through my letterbox in Belfast, to say there was a package at the local Post office I needed to collect.
I thought, have I ordered something? Has my wife ordered something? I called down the next day and gave the post office guy the card and after a few minutes, he appeared back at the counter with this very large brown parcel tube.
I thought, what’s this?
I took it out to the car and as I opened it and began to pull out what was inside, I could see it was a massive A3 sized photograph….and not just any photograph.
It was an incredible photo of Ricky Hatton landing a devastating punch on Castillo in that fight in Las Vegas a few weeks earlier.
In the bottom corner of the enormous photograph, was a message to my friend and the unmistakable signature of Ricky Hatton.
I was stunned. I had written a simple letter to a PO Box in Manchester and Ricky Hatton, at the peak of his career, had gone to all this trouble to do this in response.
I got the picture framed and gave it to my friend in what was a highly emotional moment.
I often thought if I would ever get to say thanks in person to Ricky, and as fate would have it, last year at a Manchester City Champions League game, I got that chance.
I explained to him what he had done all those years ago, and that I wanted to thank him and shake his hand for doing something that meant so much to my friend, at such a busy time in his career.
He told me he always tried to answer letters like those, because he understood what they meant to families. We had a good chat and even though I sensed his mood was low, by the end of the conversation I felt I had lifted his spirits and given him something good back - my heartfelt appreciation.
I told him he was a good person and like a lot of great champions, he was far too hard on himself.
As I shook his hand and walked away, I felt a sense of closure but also a sense of concern for this loveable and yet so vulnerable icon.
I am sure there are thousands of people with stories like this, but I wanted to share mine.
There will only ever be one Ricky Hatton.
God bless him and his family.💙🙏
