Ricky Hatton settles court case with Billy Graham

Ricky Hatton has settled a claim for unpaid wages from his former trainer, Billy Graham. The former two-weight world champion was being sued for £1.4m by Graham for money he claimed he was owed after being sacked in 2008.

On the third day of the hearing at Manchester Civil Justice Centre, both parties reached an undisclosed but "mutually acceptable" deal.  Graham alleged Hatton had failed to pay him for services given relating to fights against Juan Lazcano and Floyd Mayweather.

The former trainer told the hearing that he had always received 10% of the purse in Hatton's fights yet he was owed money for the December 2007 bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr and was not paid at all for his massively attended May 2008 'homecoming' fight against Juan Lazcano.

Hatton's father Ray was the main target of Graham's ire and was accused of short-changing him by getting him to sign an agreement for a fixed sum of just over £451,000.  Yet Hatton's enormous purse for what became Sky's biggest ever PPV success was at least £10m.

"It was Ricky who I trusted.  I always thought his dad would short change me," said Graham, damningly.

Ricky and Billy worked together for 11 years and 45 fights and in court, the boxer said, "We were just totally on the same wavelength when it came to boxing."

Intriguingly, Graham's barrister brought up a £30m counter-claim which he said Hatton was pursuing against his former trainer following accusations of a poor training camp.  Ricky denied any knowledge of the counter-claim, saying that his father dealt with financial issues.  This, quite obviously, raises all sorts of questions.

A joint statement released after the hearing said: "Billy Graham, Ricky Hatton and Punch Promotions Ltd have today agreed to put their differences behind them and have ended the court proceedings on mutually acceptable terms.

"Those terms shall remain confidential to the parties."