On 24 November 2012, two-time World Champion boxer Ricky Hatton dropped to his knees, felled by a sickening punch to the body in his first comeback fight in almost three years. Gasping for breath, down and out, it was then that something extraordinary happened: 20,000 fans began to sing his name.
Ricky Hatton: War and Peace is the story of one of British boxing's true icons. From a Manchester council estate to the lights of Las Vegas, Ricky Hatton experienced incredible highs in his career, including one of the greatest ever wins by a British boxer, over the IBF Light Welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu. But heavy defeats to two legends of the ring, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, brought him quickly down to earth to face a new set of battles against depression, drink and drugs.
Through it all, however, Ricky Hatton has remained the same charismatic, genuinely funny, eloquent man - a man who boxing fans have always taken to their heart. A man who has survived a lifetime of wars both in and out of the ring, and who in defeat has finally found something close to peace. Richard 'Ricky' Hatton was born in 1978 and grew up in Hattersley, Greater Manchester. As a young amateur fighter he won several British titles and boxed at the World Junior Boxing Championship in Cuba, before turning pro in 1997. He went on to be champion of the world four times at light-welterweight, was awarded an MBE for services to sport in 2007 and is widely seen as one of Britain's greatest ever boxers. He lives in Gee Cross with his girlfriend Jennifer and has three children, Campbell, Millie and Fearne.
