Claire Sweeney said Ricky Hatton became unusually reflective in the weeks before his death, offering a rare glimpse of a man she remembered as funny, ordinary and, at times, vulnerable. The tribute came as the former partner of the two-weight world champion spoke publicly about the period before the Ricky Hatton death at 46.
Sweeney said she was “blessed to be part of his life” and remembered the ease of their relationship after they began seeing each other in early 2024. They made their red-carpet debut together in May 2024 and split in December 2024, but she said they remained close enough that she missed “the laughter” and still thought of him as a great pal.
That is why her comments land now. Hatton was found unresponsive in his home on September 14, 2025, and an inquest later found it was unclear whether he intended to take his own life, even though he died by his own hand. Sweeney’s account gives a personal shape to the final stretch of his life, not as a public figure inside a ring, but as someone she saw at home, on the sofa and over meals.
Her memories were filled with domestic detail. She said the happiest time was coming home from filming Corrie and cooking a healthy meal with him, adding that she even introduced him to an air fryer and “it changed his life.” She said he got excited choosing a boxing movie for his home cinema, that they would sit together and watch films, and that he was “so normal.” She also said, “I saw his vulnerabilities,” while describing him as “extreme” but “wonderful.”
The friction in his story remains. Friends and family have been left with a version of Hatton that held joy, routine and humour alongside periods of deep reflection, but no clear explanation for what changed in those final weeks. Adam Smith’s book, Ricky Hatton: The Light That Never Goes Out, gathers those memories from three former partners, and his funeral procession drew thousands in Manchester, showing how widely that loss was felt. Sweeney’s recollections now sit at the centre of the unanswered question: what was building in Hatton’s private life that even those closest to him could only partly see?
