{"id":424226,"date":"2026-02-13T21:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T21:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/424226\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T21:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T21:02:09","slug":"kell-brook-returns-to-honor-ricky-hatton-in-dubai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/424226\/","title":{"rendered":"Kell Brook Returns To Honor Ricky Hatton In Dubai"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxing247.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add East Side Boxing as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770669047_552_google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEV0p2ZUdsdVp6STBOeTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?ceid=US:en&amp;oc=3&amp;hl=en-US&amp;gl=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow East Side Boxing on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Brook, 39, has not fought since stopping Amir Khan in February 2022, a rivalry victory that read like a natural closing chapter. The April 11, 2026 event was originally built for Hatton\u2019s own return before the Manchester two-weight champion died last September at age 46. Brook\u2019s involvement converts the night into both competition and tribute.<\/p>\n<p>Hatton\u2019s son Campbell, 25, along with his cousins Lola and Jack, the children of Matthew Hatton, are all scheduled to fight on the undercard that their father and uncle once fronted. The fighting Hatton name now runs across the bill, placing the family name across the card rather than limiting the tribute to ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter that much time out, getting back in the gym with lads 20 years younger than me and trying to keep up, I was thinking, what have I got myself into here? I did this for years,\u201d Brook told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailystar.net\/sports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Daily Star Sport.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I stuck with it. It\u2019s one day at a time. Days turn into weeks, weeks into months, and now everything\u2019s coming together. The fitness is there, I\u2019m in great shape, I\u2019m healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stepping in carried personal meaning for Brook once the call arrived.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt means the world to me that I got the call to step in for Ricky. I understand what we\u2019re all going through and what this fight represents. For me, this is for people who are struggling,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve struggled myself \u2013 with depression, addiction, mental health \u2013 and it\u2019s important to say that it\u2019s OK not to be OK, and that it\u2019s OK to reach out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brook keeps the door open as the Hatton name tops the event<\/p>\n<p>Brook declined to treat the fight as a final appearance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou never know. It\u2019s one fight at a time. But my joy is back, and you never know \u2013 those big fights might still be there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He pointed back to the Khan win when measuring his place in British boxing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI left the sport with a tremendous win against Amir Khan. I\u2019m one of the top boys in British boxing, and if things go well, we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kell Brook Returns To Honor Ricky Hatton In Dubai\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1788\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/627964050_1546190970403596_6131294869566014095_n.jpg\"  data-\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brook, 39, has not fought since stopping Amir Khan in February 2022, a rivalry victory that read like&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-424226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}