‘So many are missing work just to see the car go past’

Manchester was united in blue as it paid tribute to a favourite son. Alex Pattle reports on a stirring farewell that proved Ricky Hatton was treasured even more as a man than a boxer

- Alex Pattle

It felt like pathetic fallacy: as the morning of Ricky Hatton’s funeral dawned, droplets of rain landed on the pavements and parks in and around Manchester like ceaseless jabs. It was an incrementally overwhelming bombardment that Hatton himself would have been proud of. Less than a month after one of Britain’s finest boxers suddenly passed away, at the age of just 46, it was time to pay a collective tribute.

The tributes began in Hyde, Greater Manchester, where Hatton resided; they ended - although, really, they may never truly end - at Manchester Cathedral. It felt as though a staggering percentage of the city’s population, and those of its suburbs, had turned out to mourn Hatton’s death and celebrate his life.

Indeed, “Look at the impact, how many people are missing work, school, just to see the car go past,” The Independent was told by Danny Atkinson. The local, who trained in boxing under Hatton’s brother Matthew, hailed Ricky as “one of my first heroes” while speaking outside the former world champion’s local pub - the Cheshire Cheese.

It was there that the funeral procession began shortly before 10am, just around the corner from Hatton’s home. Outside, police and security ensured peace for the fighter’s family.