An Evening4Ricky will take over Manchester’s AO Arena on Sunday, 7 June 2026, giving fans, fighters and friends a single night to honour Ricky Hatton after his death in September 2025. The tribute is set for the venue where Hatton fought 15 of his most memorable bouts, and it will be broadcast in the UK and around the world.
The night is being built around 12 rounds of entertainment and a clear purpose: raising funds and awareness for mental health. That gives the event a wider reach than a standard boxing tribute, and it is part of the reason interest is growing so quickly as the date approaches. Tony Walsh has written a new poem for the evening and will perform it, with the piece described as telling the story of Hatton’s life.
The line-up already has weight behind it. Paddy McGuinness, Frank Bruno, Jason Manford, Phil Taylor, Natasha Jonas, Clare Sweeney, DJ Spoony, Paulie Malignaggi, Marco Antonio Barrera, Rowetta, Steph Houghton, Tony Bellew, Michael Watson, Prince Naz and The Ks are confirmed to attend, while Wayne Rooney, Phil Foden, Freddie Flintoff, Oleksandr Usyk, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have only been invited so far. The event’s organisers are also encouraging guests to dress in some of Hatton’s favourite outfits, a nod to the fighter’s personality as much as his record in the ring.
There is also a bigger boxing moment planned inside the tribute. A new WBC belt in Hatton’s name will be presented as a surprise and awarded to a current fighter who embodies his spirit, with Marco Antonio Barrera, Campbell Hatton, Roberto Duran and other boxing royalty and hall-of-famers set to present it. That detail matters because it shows the evening is not being built only as remembrance, but as a passing of the torch to the next generation that Hatton inspired.
For Manchester, the arena and the date matter because they turn memory into something public and immediate. The open question now is how far the tribute will travel beyond the room once the full broadcast begins and the final names are confirmed in the weeks ahead.
