BoxRec

Fair play to Ricky Hatton in his comeback after 3 years, hes fighting a former world champ whose only loss is in defending his title , i think its a decent enough test for Hatton whos had a three year lay off from any type of training.
More aside can we all agree, no other fighter in combat sports, be it mma or boxing ,can match him support wise?
The hitman has for his comeback fight alone sold 16 thousand tickets to fans that at the time of purchase did not even know who he was fighting !!
Also lets not forget him in the past taking 30.000 fans many time around the world to watch him fight ,many only got to see the weigh ins lol
Please tell me ,who else could do that in mma or boxing or K1 ?

i dont think any sportsman full stop could attract the kind of crowd hatton did (or does).i was at the calzaghe/lacy and calzaghe/kessler fights.they came close but his crowds wasnt as consistent as hattons.

mrpedigree wrote:Fair play to Ricky Hatton in his comeback after 3 years, hes fighting a former world champ whose only loss is in defending his title , i think its a decent enough test for Hatton whos had a three year lay off from any type of training.
More aside can we all agree, no other fighter in combat sports, be it mma or boxing ,can match him support wise?
The hitman has for his comeback fight alone sold 16 thousand tickets to fans that at the time of purchase did not even know who he was fighting !!
Also lets not forget him in the past taking 30.000 fans many time around the world to watch him fight ,many only got to see the weigh ins lol
Please tell me ,who else could do that in mma or boxing or K1 ?

I think Georges St Pierre could do that in Canada.

But anyway, yes Hatton does have a remarkable following.

Hatton mayweather was, well, unbelievable. Hatton didn't only "do it" in manchester he did it half way accross the world with average tickets selling face value for 500 notes - face value!

Wales wrote:Hatton mayweather was, well, unbelievable. Hatton didn't only "do it" in manchester he did it half way accross the world with average tickets selling face value for 500 notes - face value!

His weigh-ins had more atmosphere than most fights!

Tyson was always te biggest crowd puller, in my opinion.

Rocky Balboa wrote:Tyson was always te biggest crowd puller, in my opinion.

He flopped in Glasgow and Tokyo.

Hatton by far has the most supportive fans, they will travel by the thousands many miles to see him fight and they e even have that team song the sing in unison. Actually Pacquioa has great fan support also

I am tempted to say Carl Froch because he has always been packing out the Nottingham Arena (even though that is only 10,000 capacity and not 22,000 like the MEN in Manchester) even when he was fighting for the British title 6/7 years ago.

IRLangmaid25 wrote:I am tempted to say Carl Froch because he has always been packing out the Nottingham Arena (even though that is only 10,000 capacity and not 22,000 like the MEN in Manchester) even when he was fighting for the British title 6/7 years ago.

This is a myth. The arena has never been set up for 10,000 for Froch and certainly not in the British title days. Also, tickets have been widely available right up until fight night, even on the day. It did not look like he had too many there for The S6 final against Ward, his "Mayweather" fight if you like. To compare him to Ricky is ridiculous.

mickey1975 wrote:

IRLangmaid25 wrote:I am tempted to say Carl Froch because he has always been packing out the Nottingham Arena (even though that is only 10,000 capacity and not 22,000 like the MEN in Manchester) even when he was fighting for the British title 6/7 years ago.

This is a myth. The arena has never been set up for 10,000 for Froch and certainly not in the British title days. Also, tickets have been widely available right up until fight night, even on the day. It did not look like he had too many there for The S6 final against Ward, his "Mayweather" fight if you like. To compare him to Ricky is ridiculous.

, Arena usually holds 8000 for froch fights , think they supposedly did at 9000 for bute fight, but to me didnt seem as busy as previous nights

Ricky certainly tapped in to the football fan market. Hence why he has the best support of any fighter there has ever been. Yep, that's right. EVER!

No other fighter in history takes thousands of his countrymen half way across the world to support him.

Fighters from certain countries might attract local ex-pats when they fight abroad ( Klits always bring in the local Ukrainians, Polish fighters will always bring in the local Poles too ) but Hatton has people following him overseas, at huge cost usually too. He is certainly unique.

Yeah what sets Hatton apart is his ability to bring large numbers with him abroad. It wouldn't surprise me if you put every ticket for one his fights on sale to British fans at the MGM, or Madison Square Garden, and it sold out. He's got unbelievable support.