Sly's ugly and Tom Cruise is tiny: Ricky Hatton's mum pulls no punches about his celebrity fans

Tom Cruise? "He's very tiny." Sylvester Stallone? "He's ugly as well."

Tom Jones? "I might have chucked my knickers at him 50 years ago, but not now."

Scroll down for more ...

And what about the Duchess of York?

"She said: 'Hello, Mrs Hatton. How have you managed to get a toy-boy?'

"I looked at my husband, Ray, and I thought, he's 57 in February, and she says I've got a toy-boy, so how old does she think I am? I thought, you cheeky sod."

The 53-year-old Mancunian matriarch has a heart of gold, a will of steel and a way with words a Coronation Street scriptwriter would kill for.

After she's slung Stallone a verbal right hook that could floor Rocky, Carol eases up by adding: "Well, I shouldn't say he's ugly.

"He had the jet-black dyed hair and the wide-open eyes, but it's just another life over there. They concentrate so much on the looks."

She describes how she introduced herself to former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis.

"I said: 'Hello, Chris Eubank.' It was all tongue-in-cheek, you can't be walking around miserable. He went: 'What are you like?'"

The answer is that Carol Hatton is funny, feisty and full of life.

Scroll down for more...

A former pub landlady and current Glossop market stallholder, she's a proper Northern lass who doesn't mince her words, and doesn't mind who knows it.

As Ricky once said: "Mum's frightening. Her Rice Krispies don't go 'Snap, crackle and pop,' they go: 'Sshh, she's coming.'"

Well, Carol's standing no nonsense from him. "I still give Richard a slap round the earhole if he needs it," she declares (he's always Richard, never Ricky to his mum).

"Oh, yes, if he asks for it, I'll still give him a winger. I'm no shrinking violet. I've always been able to stand up for myself."

So, as much as she loves her two boys, and proudly points out that her younger son Matthew not only fought on the same Las Vegas bill as Ricky, but won his fight, Carol wasn't going to let anything detract from the fun and excitement of the massive Las Vegas event.

"It was like a dream really, it was great.

"Obviously, Richard losing took a little bit of the occasion away, but it was still fantastic to see all these celebs over there."

Scroll down for more...

It all began with Tom Jones singing God Save The Queen before the fight.

"I actually saw him when he was about 20, when he was called Tommy Scott, and was singing with a group called the Squires," Carol recalls, after I inquired whether she'd aimed any garments at the lingerie-friendly Welshman.

"I remember queuing outside the Apollo Theatre in Manchester when I was about 15 to get tickets to see him.

"So to be having a chat with him is quite surreal.

"Tom Jones must be getting on for 65 now [he's 67], but the one thing that hasn't left him is his voice.

"I don't think he should have jet-black hair and eyebrows, though. It's not exactly natural-looking."

Scroll down for more...

The ringside seats on either side of the Hatton family were packed with celebrities, including Jude Law, David Beckham, Hollywood superstars Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Denzel Washington, American rock-chick Gwen Stefani and her British husband Gavin Rossdale.

But while the fight was on, Carol's attention, not surprisingly, was elsewhere.

Like any mum, she finds it hard to watch her son in the ring. Now, for the first time, she had to see him beaten.

"I always thought there would come a day when I'd have to see Richard lose.

"So you think: 'How wilI I cope, seeing Richard on the canvas?' But surprisingly, when it happened, I was just relieved when he bounced back up again.

"Then he said to the interviewer, after the fight: 'That was a fluke.' As soon as he said that, I knew he still had all his faculties.

"I was more concerned about his girlfriend, Jennifer. When Richard first got knocked down, Jennifer's legs gave way and she collapsed.

"She stood back up and then he got knocked down again, and she went down again, too.

"I thought: 'They're going down like bloody skittles here.' Because I was feeling for Jennifer and trying to console her, I didn't have time to worry about my own feelings."

Scroll down for more ...

It was only after the fight that Carol got down to some serious star-spotting.

"When we went into the changing-room, the last person I expected to see was Brad Pitt, sporting a peculiar flat cap," she says.

"I think he's trying to match Richard in a funny hat competition, because Richard likes to wear his stupid Bill and Ben floppy hats, too.

"Anyway, I walked in and I was greeted by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. For a minute I thought: 'Bloody hell, what have they come in here for?'

"They'd gone through the crowd and made enquiries to find out where Richard was, just to say they thought he was a superstar, what a nice bloke they thought he was and how we all came across as really nice people.

"And they wanted to talk to me! It was weird."

Carol has been quoted saying that she wouldn't kick Brad out of bed, and she's sticking by that

"Brad Pitt is nicer in the flesh than in pictures in magazines, and his wife, Angelina, is absolutely gorgeous," she says.

"When she was up close, I was looking at her really closely, and she's got the most perfect skin and hair.

"That said, I think she's carried the WeightWatchers look a bit too far.

"The average person that goes to WeightWatchers is allowed 22 diet points a day. I think Angelina must be on about four."

Scroll down for more...

The next night in Las Vegas, she was off to the Mandalay Bay casino for the Spice Girls concert.

As Carol recalls: "I sat down next to an American lady in the audience and she was pointing out these celebrities to me.

"She was saying: 'That's Tom Cruise and David Beckham' - and while I was talking to her, David Beckham was ringing to ask us to go up to his box.

"Then Richard popped his head out of the box and the American lady said: 'See that guy there? That's Leonardo DiCaprio.'

"I said: 'No, excuse me, love, you're looking at flat-nosed Ricky Hatton, from Manchester.'"

Scroll down for more ...

Up in the box, she met the Cruises. Tom seemed "very tiny", but as Carol generously points out: "I say that about most men, because I'm quite a big girl. His wife Katie Holmes was there, she's very lovely.

"Then the Duchess of York popped in with her girl, Beatrice. She came over and said how great it was for all the fans to come over and cheer Richard on."

It was at that point that Fergie, doubtless trying to compliment Carol, suggested that her husband, Ray, whom she first met when she was 14 and he 17, was her toy-boy.

Scroll down for more...

Luckily, before the two ladies could lock horns, David Beckham appeared.

"Beckham thought the fight was electric, the whole atmosphere, and all the fans there just for one person," says Carol.

"He was very nice and he took us to the party afterwards, and we met the Spice Girls.

"During the show, Scary Spice said: 'Can we all give a big hand to Ricky Hatton, who's here tonight.'

Scroll down for more...

"Everybody gave him another round of applause. Things like that made him feel not too bad.

"I said to Richard: 'You've got to put it into perspective, it's just a boxing match.

'You're 29 years old. You're a millionaire. You've got a lovely son, a lovely family, a lovely girlfriend.

'You've not been told you've got a terminal disease. It's just a boxing match. You'll live to fight another day.'"