Hedges vs Brown: A Battle in Manchester for the Cruiserweight Title
John Hedges walked to the scales in Manchester carrying more than just expectation. Across his chest, on a white T-shirt, the face of Ricky Hatton stared back at a city still coming to terms with losing one of its favourite fighting sons.
It was a simple gesture, but a pointed one. A Londoner from Essex, stepping into Hatton’s backyard, honouring the ‘Hitman’ in the very place that once roared him on.
Hatton, a two-weight world champion and one of Britain’s most beloved fighters, was found dead at his Manchester home in September 2025, aged just 46. After retiring in 2012, he had thrown himself into coaching. Hedges was one of the fighters who benefited, spending time under Hatton’s guidance and having him in his corner when he captured the English cruiserweight title in May 2025.
On Friday night at New Century Hall, the mood was very different.
Hedges, 24, stepped up to the stage and the boos rolled down from the balconies. Manchester made it clear where its loyalties lay. This was Pat Brown’s town, and the noise told him so.
Brown, the local favourite, strolled out to chants of “Oh, Patrick the Bomber,” his nickname ringing around the venue. The reception sounded like a dress rehearsal for what awaits on Saturday at Co-op Live, the upgraded venue drafted in when demand for tickets blew past Planet Ice in Altrincham. Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn has spoken of a crowd of around 5,000. For a vacant British and Commonwealth cruiserweight title fight, that is serious backing.
Hedges didn’t flinch. He pointed to the images of Hatton on his shirt as the jeers poured in, almost using them as a shield.
“This isn't a hostile atmosphere, this is second nature to me,” he said, unfazed. “I've boxed at a high level as an amateur and this is what you get used to.
“Pat knows the crack, he knows where I've been and this is nothing new. I'm blessed to be here but this is nothing new.”
The record backs up the calm. Hedges is unbeaten in 12 professional contests. Across the ring, Brown has fought only six times – but every one has ended in a knockout. A perfect six-from-six. Power versus momentum. Local hero against the man carrying the memory of a legend.
Both men came in at 14st 3lb (90kg), matching numbers on the scales but offering very different energies once the weigh-in formalities ended.
Brown, who boxed for Team GB at the 2024 Olympics, has moved through fight week with an ease that fits a rising star in his home city. Smiles for the cameras, relaxed in open workouts, comfortable in the spotlight. That changed when the talking stopped and the weighing was done.
The intensity snapped into his face as soon as the microphones came back out.
“This is what I was born to do,” he said, voice hard, eyes fixed. “Since I was seven years old and my dad took me into the gym – this is what I was born to do.”
The line cut through the noise. For Brown, this isn’t just a step up. It’s a homecoming with belts attached.
For Hedges, it is something else again. A chance to walk into Manchester, into Hatton’s city, wearing his late trainer’s image and trying to leave with the British and Commonwealth titles. The boos won’t bother him. The memories will drive him.
On Saturday night, one unbeaten record goes. The question is whether Manchester crowns its new ‘Bomber’ – or watches a visiting champion walk out under the gaze of Ricky Hatton, smiling from a T-shirt in the away corner.
