Don't believe the Rocky Balboa bull****, this ain't no movie, growls trainer Mayweather

"You gentlemen here on vacation?" the croupier asked. Er, sort of. "Going to the fight?" Yup. "You supporting that Hatton guy?" Eventually, Ricky put the poor bloke out of his misery by revealing his true identity beneath that flippin' hat. "Mind you, then I couldn't hit a bloody thing. Let's hope I fight better tomorrow than I gambled," he laughed.

When Hatton tells his stories with such innocent incredulity, shaking his head at how a failed carpet fitter from Hyde should tomorrow find himself "laying it all on the line" against a boxing great in the world's entertainment capital while earning £10million and a shot at the planet's finest fighter, it's then you see glimpses of Rocky in our Ricky.

Of course, he's long been a fine champion - even if many Americans here don't buy it - but he still quite enjoys the idea of playing honest hero Rocky Balboa to Floyd Mayweather's flash, evil genius Apollo Creed.

It's why Matthew Hatton, a decent pro himself, has been hurling inspirational quotes from the movie at his big brother during training here in their off-Strip gym.

"I know it's corny but remember in the first movie when Rocky fought Apollo and his corner said 'You think it's a show; he thinks it's a fight'," said Hatton. "Well, maybe there's been a sense of that here this week."

It's this widespread suspicion that Mayweather has been treating his 21st world title bout as a show rather than as the biggest threat yet to his historic place as the only ever undefeated five-weight world champion which persuades many that Hatton can tomorrow achieve the most monumental British boxing triumph since Randy Turpin outpointed Sugar Ray Robinson in 1951.

On that fabled Earl's Court night, 18,000 Londoners toasted Leamington's folk hero to the repeated strains of "For he's a jolly good fellow" but there are 25,000 Mancunians in town here convinced they'll be serenading Hatton with "You fat b******" in tomorrow's thoroughly modern reprise.

It's got an epic feel to it. Two unbeaten stars, the fighter v the boxer and the best baddie v goodie clash in the MGM since Mike Tyson treated Evander Holyfield to his Hannibal Lecter impression there 10 years ago. Chuck in David Beckham, Tom Jones singing the national anthem and a ringside seat going for 42,000 bucks and it's a throwback to boxing's golden era.

The invading Manc army, who've got right up Mayweather's nose already, fancy the fairytale is possible, buoyed by the rumours floating round the casino floors all week that something's wrong in the champion's camp.

Mayweather has talked up his usual trashy storm but David Mayo, the reporter from his home town of Grand Rapids who's as close to the camp as any outsider gets, suspects his abnormal fight week preparations, cancelled gym sessions and Monday's withdrawal scare story may mean that, despite his protestations, he really is struggling with his old problem of damaged hands.

Mayweather's so brilliant that he once defended his WBC super-featherweight title against Carlos Hernandez with effectively one glove but if he's playing the trouper's 'show must go on' card, then he's picked the wrong man in a perfectly-prepared, driven Hatton, who believes he has the style to be "Floyd's worst nightmare".

He's talked a great fight, expounding how his speed, relentless high tempo and intelligent punch selection would surprise Mayweather; how the backpedaller wouldn't have the power nor the respite in the later rounds to repel him indefinitely.

Remember how he won the unwinnable against Kostya Tszyu, he's kept reminding everyone. His utter conviction, combined with that winning personality, have increasingly-persuaded luminaries here to the point where it feels the whole boxing world beyond Grand Rapids wants him to prevail.

Marco Antonio Barrera, the baby-faced assassin, today even told us how Mexico now loved him, seeing a touch of the great Julio Cesar Chavez in his rumbustious style.

"I think a victory for me would be a victory for boxing," Hatton told me today. "The good guy wins, doesn't he? Sometimes good guys can finish first. In the ring, I'm exciting, I put everything on the line, give the crowd value for money and I've remained humble, a man of the people. That's what you want to see in a champion."

True. Unless you're a Mayweather, of course. Floyd's manner may grate but it's hard to disagree when he argues that the fastest hands in boxing and supreme defence, allied to a seveninch reach advantage, will once again render him unassailable.

The heart yearns for Hatton but the head fears Mayweather will find him too pliant a target in the early rounds, either stopping him on cuts or successfully defending an impregnable points advantage.

Hatton will simply focus on the words of his all-time hero Roberto Duran, who booms: "Can Hatton beat Mayweather? Well, a lot of people said I couldn't beat [Sugar Ray] Leonard and I beat him. Who is Mayweather that he can't be beat? You tell me that?

"He's a great boxer but no boxer is unbeatable."

Forget all your dreams of an MGM ending, though, growls trainer Roger Mayweather. "Don't believe in that Rocky Balboa bull****. This ain't no movie. Hatton's in above his head."

Uncle Roger may clearly be barking but he does at least remember who won that first celluloid scrap. And it wasn't Rocky.