Ricky doesn’t want son Campbell to be a chip off the old block
HATTON KEEN TO ENSURE HIS LAD DOESN’T MAKE SAME MISTAKES HE DID
CAMPBELL Hatton doesn’t have to look too far to see the glorious highs - and brutal lows - that come with professional boxing.
Dad Ricky became a legend for his exploits in the ring as he became a two-weight world champion.
But he has also had to battle his demons - admitting he thought about suicide following his loss to Manny Pacquiao in 2009.
Now, as he oversees his son’s early steps in what they both hope is a title-laden career, Ricky wants to ensure the 19-year-old learns from his mistakes as he prepares for his second professional bout.
“What I’ve told him that I don’t expect from him is ballooning up in weight and living like I did,” Ricky told M.E.N. Sport.
“The apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree usually but not in that area, the drinking and putting on the weight, losing the weight.
“I know I could have been a better fighter if I didn’t! I made things so much harder for me by my weight ballooning and Campbell will not be doing that that’s for sure.”
Young Hatton, who is being trained by his uncle Matthew, made a winning start to his pro career, claiming every round in his victory over Spain’s Jesus Ruiz in Gibraltar earlier this month.
His debut - shown live in Sky Box Office on the undercard of Dillian Whyte’s rematch with Alexander Povetkin – had a lot more hype and publicity than Ricky’s, who beat Colin McAuley at Widnes’s Kingsway Leisure Centre in 1997.
Watching his son fight professionally for the first time was an emotional and proud moment for the 42-year-old, even more so seeing his hand raised after the final bell.
“I think he boxed well against a very durable opponent and he showed in spells what ability he has got, but I think ultimately the occasion got to him and I think next time out in a few weeks he will be better for it,” said the former light-welterweight and welterweight champion.
“The moment it hit me was when they announced him walking in and Blue Moon came on. It’s a good job I had a Covid mask on because if anyone would have seen me, I’d have been bursting out in tears!”
Campbell knows being the son of a legend puts extra pressure on him, with the expectation that he will follow his dad to the top of the sport. And he admits, he let that get to him on his debut. But he has already learnt a lesson as he prepares for his second outing on May 1 on the undercard of the Joseph Parker v Dereck Chisora fight.
“I don’t think I boxed my best,” he told M.E.N. Sport. “At first, I was a bit disappointed, but from watching it back I can just see how mad it was, leading up to it and what a big occasion it was.
“With everything that was going on around it and the nerves on the night I am happy with it, just going into the next one there isn’t going to be half as much pressure and not as much build up to it so I can relax a bit more and just improve again.”
And Ricky was more than impressed with his son’s performance, especially considering he only took up boxing four years ago.
“I’m very proud of him in the end because he had a lot of pressure on his shoulders,” said Ricky.
“I don’t think I have known anyone in history who has had a bigger build up as Campbell for their first fight and he is only a baby, 20 years of age with only about 26 amateur fights.
“He’s never had a microphone underneath his chin, ever, and he was on Good Morning Britain, had a documentary made for him, he had all the national press, and he took it all in his stride.”
Ricky was involved in some of the biggest fights in British boxing history, with his Floyd Mayweather bout being purchased by more than two million people around the globe, with a further estimated 30,000 brits travelling over to support the Mancunian in Las Vegas.
In being such a popular figure worldwide, there will always be comparisons with Ricky for Campbell, who didn’t shy away from the increased media coverage due.
He said: “I did enjoy it, and it did add a bit more pressure, but I think the support I got on the night was absolutely amazing, to hear fans singing there’s only one Campbell Hatton is a dream come true.
“The ring walk I just kept telling myself stay calm, stay calm, so that’s one way I dealt with it and then once I was in there the nerves will have got to me a bit, I burned a lot of nervous energy.
“With my dad being who he is, I’ve got these opportunities, but I think anyone that’s saying I’ve got it easy, couldn’t be more wrong and I don’t think there will be many people saying that anymore.”
Ricky added: “We’re all going to get people who don’t want us to do well, Campbell more than most because he’s my son, for every person that wants him to do well there is going to be three or four that don’t want him to do well, so he’s got to put that to the back of his mind and take each fight as it comes.”