Anon
10/18/25, 01:41No.151429625 >In October 1991, the brilliant 13-year-old boxer, weighing just six stone six pounds and still going by the name Richard Hatton, had just defeated a Finnish champion during a tournament in Copenhagen.>The Soviet national team was also in attendance, just months before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December of that same year.>Just minutes after watching the young boxer dismantle his opponent in the ring, the Soviets queued up for his autograph.>Speaking to the Manchester Evening News then, Ted Peake, coach of Hyde's Louvolite amateur boxing club, said: "The Russian national coach said he had never seen a fighter like him.>”He came over right away and invited Richard to box in Russia - and he was deadly serious.">The boxing club coach had taken four fighters, including Ricky, to the 14-nation tournament. But days later, Ricky's landlord dad, Ray, who ran the New Inn on Mottram Road, received an even bigger surprise.>Ray received a letter from the Kaigi Independent Boxing Club, near Riga, Latvia (then part of the Soviet Union), offering the Hattersley High School boy free accommodation and other sports facilities - and a few extras.
