THE FAMILY of a murdered amateur boxer relived the time he fought the great British boxer Ricky ‘The Hitman’ Hatton.

Father-of-three Craig Maddocks, 34, of Llay, died at the Cambrian Vaults in Wrexham town centre in the early hours of June 26, 2013.

Craig Maddocks’ brother Danny has been trying to arrange a meeting between his family and Hatton for the last two years.

And on Thursday, Danny, his sister Lisa and Craig’s father David travelled to The Hitman’s gym in Hyde, near Manchester, where the former world champion talked with them and signed memorabilia from Craig’s career.

Hatton left a touching message on Craig’s medical card dating back to the time the young pair fought in 1996, when the amateur fight was stopped in the second round.

It reads: “To the Maddocks family. All my love, Ricky Hatton. RIP Craig.”

David said: “I was in Craig’s corner with his uncle Pedro when they fought. 

“He was doing well in the first round, Ricky was starting to get stronger in the second round but Craig was still holding his own until towards the end.

“Craig came back and he went mad, asking why we chucked the towel in. He said he would have had him if they had kept going. He cursed me for it.”

As well as the medical card, Hatton signed several pair of boxing gloves, one of which has been given to Craig’s daughter Chloe as a memento.

Another is to be auctioned off to raise funds for the boxing club in Llay, while one will be put on display at the gym in Llay where Craig trained.

The family will also present an award in Craig’s name to the club’s best boxer of the year.

The auction will be held at Llay Royal British Legion on December 4.

Danny said: “We were there all day in the gym but he made time to fit us in and have a chat. 

“When we spoke, he remembered Craig and he said he is going to try and get a copy of the video of the fight for us because his dad recorded them all.

“He had a look through the medical card and recognised some of the names. He said Craig had obviously had a really good career from the looks of it.”

Lisa added: “He saw us and he was really nice. It was good of him to sign some gloves for the kids and have some pictures taken with us.”

Murderer Francesco John Prevete is currently serving at least 23 years for the killing of Craig Maddocks, who died after being stabbed 52 times in pub toilets at Wrexham.

Prevete was told he would receive a life sentence after being found guilty of murder and that the minimum term he should serve before he could apply for parole would be 23 years.