It might also help that Hatton represents a large but underrepresented part of England, which is the north. In the UK as a whole, all the spotlight and emphasis seems to be on London. The biggest newspapers/ TV channels/ etc... all seem to be based in/on or around London, not only from a business point of view but also the content that they offer. Now I might be wrong, but I would assume that even though Scots aren't particularly fond of England, they can relate much better to the North (similarity of cultures/accents (to a certain extent) even ethnic background), which is why Hatton also gets support outside of England. Furthermore, since the North is somehow pushed behind, the people seem to be more attached to their stars/icons (you can see this in football, where Northern clubs thrive a lot on legacy and legends. Only last week Shearer took over as Newcastle manager, and before that Kevin Keegan was seen as the Messiah).
I think generally northerners and southerners are a different species.... We call them fairies and they call us monkeys..... northerners are generally, by definition, pretty streetwise and don't tend to suffer fools gladly, which conversely southerners are pretty flash - obviously there are exceptions to both rules.... but Hatton does (in many ways though not all) represent the 'typical northern bloke' - and is therefore popular.
definately a 10. i'm english, and while i wouldnt technically class myself as a hatton fan ive watched all his fights and respect his fighting ability (i love the way he fights to be honest) he'll fight anybody, (again witter not included, but thats got so old now its boring, and ricky would have beat him anyway) he's exciting in the ring etc etc but i was still more of a calzaghe fan, cos joe took it serious and didnt mouth off. hatton annoys me with all his mouth, and the way he blows up between fights, like he's not taking it seriously but then come fight night he's in ****ing tip top shape! he makes it so hard for people to hate him, but at the same time makes it easy when he starts running his mouth about how good ricky hatton is it just turns me right off him. they way he talked after the mayweather fight you'd have thought he'd won, not got ****ing out-boxed then knocked out! but fair play to him for coming back so well, and in my honest opinion he's definately the best out there at light welter and i think mayweather will be the only one to beat him before he retires, unless he fights JMM, but with kahn moving up into ricky's territory and the possibility of a sell out, domestic show down at wembley on the cards i doubt he'll be interested now. i used to be a massive hatton fan, back in his early days, but went right off him after the tszu fight. i think he'll stop pacquiao, and i agree, his fan base is massive mostly cos of the football fan influence,and mostly cos they love how he drinks and lives his life between fights. but even without it he'd still be the biggest sell-out boxer we've got.