Ricky Hatton funeral latest: Boxing legend’s hearse makes its way through streets of Manchester as fans come out in force to pay respects after tragic death aged 46

Very emotional scenes here.

Ricky Hatton has passed by his favourite pub, the Cheshire Cheese; the local he would regularly stop by and have a jar or two.

He really was a man of the people, a down-to-earth star who had time for anyone and everyone.

The emotion in the crowd just shows how much he meant to everybody.

Andrew Chamberlain in Manchester:

Mourners waved Manchester City flags emblazoned with “there’s only one Ricky Hatton” as his cortege drove by his local pub. Hundreds stood outside the Cheshire Cheese, in Gee, to pay their respects.
They burst into a respectful applause as Hatton’s yellow Robin Reliant stopped outside the pub.

Many mourners placed flowers and tributes on the low-loader transporting the vehicle. Mourners then began to singing ‘there’s only one Ricky Hatton!’ Hatton’s body was carried in a blue coffin with “Blue Moon” etched on the side.

Super fan James Bowes, 36, first met Ricky in 2002. He said: ‘I went to every fight with him. I even went to Las Vegas. I used to carry his belts out into the ring to Blue Moon.

‘People used to asked me if the belts were heavy. But they weren’t for me! If it wasn’t for him I would have never got to the fights. Ricky was my best friend. I just wish he was  still here to see all this. And what he meant to people.’He will only be my only fighter. Even when there were other celebrities in the room, it was only Ricky.’

Fighting back tears, landlord of the Cheshire Cheese Tony Cooper, 57, said: ‘He was a local lad and this was his home from home. He would come in, have a Guinness watch the football and just be himself. ‘He was a nice genuine man. He will be missed.’

Daily Mail Sport’s Jeff Powell has had many close relationships with fighters during his lifetime of covering boxing.

One of those he was closest to was Ricky Hatton, the larger-than-life man who could light up any room.

But while it seemed like everything in his life was dandy, Hatton would regularly hide secrets behind his bubbly personality.

One day, he couldn’t hold one of them and told Powell during a Manchester City match watch party.

Mourners have lined the streets, and Ricky Hatton is being driven through the grey and dark Greater Manchester.

We believe that a few groups have started to gather at Manchester Cathedral for the private service, too.

Riath Al-Samarrai, Daily Mail Sport:

There has always been an innocent and misguided temptation to limit Ricky Hatton’s status to that of the ‘people’s champion’. Such billing was well earned through blood and charm, but as we process the devastating, hollowing end of his life at 46, it is necessary to broaden the parameters of discussion.

For in the rawest of sporting contexts, he was also so much more. He was a champion of the world in two weight divisions and, furthermore, responsible for one of the greatest boxing upsets of all, certainly among bouts involving a British fighter. We can talk more about Kostya Tszyu in a moment. Because we must. Because all roads go back to that night in Manchester 20 years ago this summer.

But unlike so many fighters, we can also talk about the glory of defeat. About what a loss can say about a man who never settled for being very good when great was on the table. He strived, he chased, he reached for the stars and there was no shame, none at all, in merely achieving the (blue) moon.

One of the best about, no doubt.

He was always known as the ‘People’s Champion’, as I have already called him in this blog, but that’s not all he was. Yes, he was a loveable character that wasn’t just adored by the people of Manchester, but by the rest of the country too. However, he was also a winner.

45 wins from 48 fights. World champions in two weight classes. The man who beat the odds.

Hatton was one of the greatest fighters this country will ever produce, and he showed that more than ever 20 years ago when beating Kostya Tszyu in his favourite city.

No one gave him a sniff of winning that fight. But guess what? Hatton beat the man who hadn’t lost in eight years and held all the light-welterweight division belts.

It was a night that will go down in boxing folklore forever.

He faced the likes of Floyd Mayweather, who many regard as the greatest pound-for-pound fighter to ever live, and also the legendary Manny Pacquiao. Both handed him two of his three defeats, but they grew his legacy in the sport.

We won’t see many better than ‘The Hitman’.

Mourners are starting to line the streets.

A crowd is growing outside of the Cheshire Cheese Pub, where the cortege begins in less than 15 minutes.

People seemed to be either dressed in black or in the light blue of Manchester City.

The crowds will only grow over the next few hours as they celebrate the people’s champion.

The memorial route will begin at Ricky Hatton’s local, the Cheshire Cheese Pub, in Gee Hyde, and will end at the Manchester Cathedral, where the funeral will start.

Thousands are expected to line the streets as the procession stops at Hatton’s Gym before moving past the place where he trained for his biggest fights, Betta Bodies Gym.

It will later move on past Hatton’s fortress, the AO Arena (formerly known as the M.E.N Arena). A stadium where Hatton made so many memories, including the night when he beat Jostya Tszyu for the world title.

After the service at the cathedral, Hatton will be taken to his favourite place, the Etihad Stadium, where his beloved Manchester City play.

It’s going to be a poignant day.

The tributes are already flooding outside Hatton’s Gym in Hyde, as they have been for a month since his death.

Hatton was a Manchester City fan through and through, but as you can see, it’s not just the blue side of the city who are paying their respects. There is an old Manchester United scarf hanging outside the gym.

The city has come together to mourn the legendary boxer.

Today, thousands will line the streets of Manchester to celebrate the life of the late great Ricky Hatton.

The boxing icon unexpectedly passed away aged 46 on September 14, in what the Police believe are not suspicious circumstances.

The funeral procession will start at 9.45am, before the 18-mile memorial route ends at Manchester Cathedral, where the funeral starts at 12pm.

He was a hero in this city, and family and friends will pay their respects to a much-loved man.

‘There’s only one Ricky Hatton’