Dooley, engaged to Ricky Hatton on Valentine’s Day 2009 and the mother of his two youngest daughters, has spoken for the first time about losing him. Her opening line sits between grief and resignation.

“I always knew he wasn’t going to be an old man,” Dooley says in Ricky Hatton: The Light That Never Goes Out, the tribute book by broadcaster and Sky Sports Head of Boxing Adam Smith.

The Hatton she describes is not the fighter fans knew.

“Rick was quite childlike and maybe he never really became an independent, fully functioning adult,” she says. “He lived for everybody else. He was vulnerable about mental health.”

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Dooley is one of three former partners who contributed to the book, alongside actress Claire Sweeney and former Sky Sports production assistant Maria Ganner. Until now, Dooley had only spoken through the coroner’s court.

Flintoff’s foreword

The book’s foreword is written by former England cricket captain Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff, who says the conversations he had with Hatton about depression changed his own life.

“He was the first person I’d ever met who was so honest. He opened right up to me at his house and he was the very first to encourage me to speak up. This led to my diagnosis for depression,” Flintoff writes.

“I got so much inspiration from Rick on dealing with it and talking about it. I have huge respect and am so thankful to him.”

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What the inquest found

Hatton was found at his home in Hyde, near Manchester, on 14 September 2025, aged 46. He held world titles at light-welterweight and welterweight, finished his professional career with 45 wins from 48 bouts, and beat Kostya Tszyu and Jose Luis Castillo before losses to Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

At South Manchester Coroner’s Court in Stockport, senior coroner Alison Mutch returned a narrative verdict rather than a conclusion of suicide.

“Richard John Hatton died having suspended himself from a ligature. (His) intention remains unclear as he was under the influence of alcohol and a neurological post-mortem found evidence of CTE,” Mutch said.

The court heard Hatton had left no note. He was found with his bags packed for a flight to Dubai, where he was due to begin training for a December comeback bout.

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What Dooley wanted to say

Dooley and Hatton separated in 2016 but continued to co-parent their two daughters. Her tribute keeps returning to the gap between the man his family knew and the fighter the country adopted as “The Hitman.”

“He thought he was the same as everyone else, with small children, trying to navigate life, but he was actually a trailblazer,” she says.

“I wish we could have done something, but he wanted to save others.”

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