We take a look at Ricky Hatton – A Life Story in the lead up to his seismic clash against Floyd Mayweather
Ricky Hatton is a British sporting hero. Fact. That he’s never received the exposure and celebrity status that our overpaid and overpampered footballers have is much down to his man-in-the-street image. An image that is certainly not cultivated, and defines him as the fighter he is.
And the fighter that he is is currently facing up to the biggest fight of his life in Las Vegas in less than two short weeks time.
Hatton will fight Floyd Mayweather at Welterweight at the Las Vegas MGM Grand on 8 December, and it’s fitting that his DVD, Ricky Hatton – A Life Story is available in the lead up to the biggest bout involving a British boxer for many years.
The DVD is an official, authorised look at the life and career of ‘The Hitman’.
The main feature kicks off with a brief history of the ‘sweet science’ and cutely focuses in on 1978, the year Muhammad Ali lost to Sonny Liston, and the year Hatton was born.
Roots, encompassing family, friends and a solid Mancunian (Stockport, to be precise) identity are incredbily important to Hatton, and right from the start this is enforced by the various people who are on hand to give their opinions about Ricky’s illustrious career.
Phrases such as ‘man of the people’ and ‘human touch’ constantly crop up, and the talking heads convey a strong sense of love, loyalty and respect for Ricky.
Hatton comes from a sports mad family, with father and grandfather both playing for Manchester City teams. Indeed Ricky was at Manchester City’s School of Excellence as a 13/14 year old, before concentrating on knocking out schoolboys all over Great Britain.
Indeed his love of Manchester City carries through to his boxing entrance music, which is club anthem, Blue Moon performed by Supra.
One of the highlights of this film is the footage of his trainer Billy Graham padding up and getting in the ring with Hatton. Graham wears a head camera, backpack full of electronics, and takes some shots.
From the opponent’s, or should that be victim’s, perspective, the ferocity of Hatton’s boxing is both impressive and frightening, and the sharp exhalations of breath as he unleases each punch are truly unsettling. Not only does he fight like a pit bull terrier, he sounds like one too.
The extras are superb, and feature the complete footage of the ‘in the ring’ section, which is worth the cost of the DVD alone.
Also in there you can also find extensive coverage of four big fights, against Maussa, Collazo, Urango and Castillo, plus the story of the song that accompanies the DVD, which I’m thinking will be slightly less interesting for fight fans.
One criticsm is the lack of footage of Hatton’s defining 2005 bout against Kostya Tszyu, the fight that made him. I’m guessing media rights issues have prevented this DVD being a definitive record. But all in all, this is a cracking watch in the build-up to the big fight.
We’ve got five copies of the DVD to give away, follow the link below to enter the competition.
