Andrew Flintoff reveals feeling of ‘guilt’ after death of Ricky Hatton
Former world welterweight champion Hatton, 46, was found hanged at his home in Hyde on September 14, Stockport Coroner’s Court was told on Thursday.
Andrew Flintoff says he feels a sense of guilt over the death of his friend Ricky Hatton.
Former world welterweight champion Hatton, 46, was found hanged at his home in Hyde on September 14, Stockport Coroner’s Court was told on Thursday.
Cricket star Flintoff said he and Hatton had developed a bond after rising to stardom around the same time.
He recalled in an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored, airing on YouTube on Thursday, that he last met Hatton by chance on a train to Manchester.
“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 he played with and everyone he’s coached. You just feel like, ‘if only we would have known’. But it’s terrible.”
Flintoff said he attended some of Hatton’s fights in the past and recalled other fun times they had spent together.
“We’ve sung karaoke together and I never knew all these things that he was struggling with until we sat down,” Flintoff added.
“When we started talking, obviously, he was so honest about what he had been going through and how he felt. And then, as he was talking, I was relating to it. I’ve felt like that, that’s what I’ve been like.
“Then it just turned into a chat between two blokes being really honest.
“(Ricky was) 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 his friends, his family, but anyone who has been in contact with Ricky.”
