Tyson Fury is coming out of retirement to fight Arslanbek Makhmudov at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Tyson Fury showed his class ahead of his fight with Arslanbek Makhmudov with a tribute to the late Ricky Hatton. The cameras panned to the former heavyweight champion of the world in the dressing room as he got his gloves wrapped by SugarHill Steward during the middle of Conor Benn’s fight with Regis Prograis.

It offered a sneak glimpse of Fury’s attire for the fight against Makhmudov, with ‘RIP Ricky’ written on the top of his shorts, which were also in the colours of Manchester City.

Fury will also wear light blue gloves with a message for his close friend, who sadly passed away in September last year.

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The gloves, which were shared on social media ahead of the fight, had ‘There’s only one Ricky Hatton’ written on them, paying further tribute to one of Manchester’s greatest ever fighters.

Fans on social media heaped praise on Fury for the classy gesture. One said: “Absolute class from the Gypsy King honouring Ricky like this is proper respect. Can’t wait to see those boots in the ring tomorrow!”

Another said: “Tyson Fury this is a class act.”

Fury walked to the ring with Blue Moon playing, honouring Hatton, who was a close friend throughout his life, with the pair spending a lot of time together both in and out of the ring.

Explaining to Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley, Paris Fury explained that Hatton’s death had hit Tyson hard. She said: “He [Tyson] has had troubles in the past, and he did go through a low point when, RIP Ricky Hatton, he heard about it, and it put him in a slump for three or four days.

“It was a bad place for him for a moment, but he’s come round. It just opened his eyes to awareness about what can happen at home and you should always talk to people. Seek help, seek advice. He was speaking to me about how he felt because it was such a tragedy.

“He had such a young family and he was so loved by a lot of people and it did affect Tyson because he had a personal relationship with Ricky. Especially in the boxing with training, inside and outside. With their inside jokes, they both really got along. Because they’re both Manchester lads I think.”

Fury returns to the ring tonight to take on Russian heavyweight Makhmudov, with talk of a superfight against Anthony Joshua on the horizon if he defeats the 36-year-old.

Speaking ahead of Fury’s fight with Makhmudov, Turki Al-Sheikh said: ” You know what is amazing now. The British fans. This is what gives us the motivation to do more and more. Today we have a big surprise, I hope we’ll announce the biggest fight in the history of England.

“We need to kidnap Eddie Hearn to announce the biggest fight. We have five or six big announcements with Netflix next year.”