'There’s a guilt': Lancashire's Freddie Flintoff opens up about friend Ricky Hatton's death

Former world welterweight champion Ricky Hatton died aged 46, after he was found hanged at his home in Hyde on September 14 , Stockport Coroner's Court was told on Thursday.

During an emotional interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored, airing on YouTube yesterday, Freddie was asked about Ricky’s death.

The Preston born star said: “It’s quite close to home in a lot of ways. Ricky, one of the great men, you know, I met him years ago. We did a thing for Sky Sports and I went on the pads and he started hitting me and I was a fan as well."

“He’s charming, he’s funny, our careers run parallel with each other at the height, at the same time. I went to his fights.

“We had nights out in the Press Club in Manchester and we’ve sung karaoke together and I never knew all these things that he was struggling with until we sat down.

“When we started talking, obviously, he was so honest about what he had been going through and what he felt. And then, as he was talking, I was, like, relating to it. I’ve felt like that, that’s what I’ve been like.

“Then it just turned into a chat about two blokes being really honest. I suppose that documentary changed and I wasn’t going to give as much away about myself but then felt obliged to actually if he’s doing this.”

Asked about the last time he saw the 46-year-old, Freddie said: “I sat with him a while ago on a train. I got on a train and he'd been somewhere. We sat together all the way back up to Manchester, like, quite unexpected.

“And 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 played with and everyone he’s coached. You just feel like, if only we would have known. But you know it’s terrible.”

Manchester born Ricky was discovered “unresponsive” by his manager, Paul Speak, on the morning of Sunday, September 14 at his house in Hyde, Stockport Coroner’s Court was told yesterday.

The details were given during a brief 10-minute hearing as the inquest into the death of the popular former boxer was opened and adjourned until March 20 next year, by Alison Mutch, senior coroner for Manchester South.

At the hearing yesterday, Ms Mutch said: “The provisional cause of death is given as hanging.”

You can read more about what was said during that inquest hearing here.