'Oh no' – Ricky Hatton feared Liam Gallagher was going to get him killed because of what Oasis rockstar did to Paulie Malignaggi and his dangerous fan

27/08/2024 11:48

Ricky Hatton, Noel Gallagher and Liam Gallagher will always be cultural icons in their hometown of Manchester.

The boxing world champion and Oasis rockstars were three of the biggest celebrities in the city in the 2000s and are still revered two decades later as the band announce their 2025 reunion.

By 2008, a year before Oasis broke up, Hatton was in the latter stages of his career following his welterweight defeat to Floyd Mayweather, though he still held the Ring Magazine and IBO belts in the division below.

He returned to the UK and beat Juan Lazcano in a comeback fight at Manchester City’s stadium, then headed back out to America again to defend his super-lightweight straps against Paulie Malignaggi.

For this bout, he enlisted the help of the Gallagher brothers to walk him out at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.

Hatton recalled to Mega Casino: "I gave Noel the Ring Magazine belt and Liam the IBO belt, and you could see they were both a bit nervous, obviously they’ve never walked a fighter out before.

“They asked, 'What do I do Rick? What do we do?'

“I said, 'Get in the ring and hold it up and put it in Malignaggi's face.'

“So, Noel got in, I got in the ring, then Liam got in the ring.

“Liam came straight past me, straight past Noel, and went straight up to Paulie and said something like, 'What do you think about that you d***head?’

“I thought, ‘That’s not quite what I meant Liam, not quite what I meant mate.’

“I didn’t mean to hold up in front of his face and abuse him, but it was funny.”

However, Gallagher was not finished there.

“Liam’s walking around the ringside,” Hatton continued, “Malignaggi's fans are at ringside, and Liam’s giving the old Liam Gallagher two fingers – it was absolute gold.

“A couple Malignaggi's supporters who were at ringside were not people you’d want a mess with.

“They said, ‘We love you, Ricky. We love you Ricky, but the rockstar needs to be careful, he needs to be careful.’

“I went, ‘Oh no, what do you mean? He means no harm, he means no harm. That’s just what it is. That’s rock and roll, isn't it? That’s what it is like.’

"They said, ‘Oh no, no, he disrespected us, man. He disrespected us.’

“I thought, ‘Oh, no. Liam's going to get us all killed here.'”

Thankfully no violence broke out other than inside the ring as Hatton stopped Malignaggi in what would turn out to be the final victory of his legendary career.

A year on from the fight, in 2009, Oasis split after a backstage brawl between the Gallagher brothers.

They are now finally reforming to end a lengthy wait for fans.

On Tuesday, they officially announced a run of 14 shows in the UK and Ireland for summer 2025.

In a press release, brothers simply said: “The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised.”

Their London shows are going to all take place at Wembley Stadium, where Liam Gallagher is already due to appear next month.

In June, it was announced by Saudi boxing chief HE Turki Alalshikh that they have booked Liam to perform three Oasis classics as a special guest during the Anthony Joshua vs Daniel Dubois ‘Riyadh Season Card’.

This will take place on September 21 at Wembley.