Hopkins tells Hatton: 'Get busy, Ricky, and the title is yours'

Experts willing to predict a Mayweather defeat in the Nevada desert are fewer than loss-making casinos. Most think America's gladiator will 'befuddle and razzle-dazzle' the English visitor, to borrow a Hopkins phrase.

Hatton played up to the underdog designation at the final press conference, joking: 'This little, fat, beer-drinking Englishman, who hasn't beaten anyone, has been over-protected and fought a load of has-beens — I don't think you've got anything to worry about, Floyd.'

But as a master of self-motivation through 20 defences of the middleweight crown and a graduate of boxing's ghetto school (the Oxbridge of pugilism, here in the States) Hopkins knows plenty about the deadening effect of wealth.

He foresees Mayweather falling behind in tomorrow's World Boxing Council welterweight bout through the sheer volume of Hatton's punches and then having to reach into an appetite for violence the Pretty Boy may no longer have.

It's an optimistic scenario, even to British eyes, but here goes. Hopkins says: 'Whoever is busiest will win this fight. There are going to be some exciting moments early on. We are going to be on our feet, whether you're from England or the project across the street.'

Hopkins expects to meet Calzaghe in Vegas today to discuss another Transatlantic showdown, following the Welshman's pulsating victory over Mikkel Kessler, although Sheffield's Clinton Woods is the probable next opponent for Britain's undisputed super-middleweight champion.

The disconcerting eccentricity that Calzaghe's camp have often diagnosed in dealings with the first man to defeat Felix Trinidad is apparent when Hopkins says: 'I got a white horse being delivered and I'm going to ride around Vegas with a bugle like Paul Revere calling: "The British are coming".'

More soberly, he says: 'Calzaghe has to come over here. He went on national TV in front of millions of people and said he would fight me in my backyard. If he is willing to come here, we can get the ball rolling. I hope some discussions take place here and we can get the next big Europe-American fight so we can see who is the best of the best, no matter where he lives.

'To bring boxing back to credibility we are forced to say we're not going to babysit our guy and try and milk him to the championship. We are forced to take risks because if the sport doesn't live up to the standards of the people then we all lose. Nobody makes money, nobody makes history, nobody fulfils their dreams.'

All very laudable but for Calzaghe-Hopkins to be the next challenge to the growing popularity of cage fighting, both boxers may have to compromise on the fee. Meanwhile, sales of closed-circuit passes for Mayweather-Hatton have passed 10,000. Yes, that many ticketless Brits have shelled out to watch their idol on TV in a casino.

Hopkins, too, is an admirer of Hatton's hyperactive style. Moments after the 'little beer-drinking Englishman' had bumped chests with Mayweather on a dais and then drawn his finger across his throat in a transparent attempt to goad the imperious champion into a brawl in the ring, Hopkins mapped out a route to success against boxing's world No 1.

He said: 'Ricky Hatton is not just a slugger. He's willing to be one, but he's also willing to throw punches in bunches, and that's rare in boxing today. That's a dangerous guy because you can't keep him off you. He's like the Energizer bunny. I don't think I've seen any of Floyd's fights where he has had rapid punches with some sting on them landing top and bottom, from angles.

'I'm looking for some blood from Ricky Hatton early on but at the end of the day he out-hustles Floyd Mayweather to a 12-round unanimous decision. It's a fight for Ricky to win and Floyd to lose.'

Hopkins then launched into a long meditation on the fragility of greatness. Few are better qualified to explore the psyche of the apparently invincible fighter whose cars and diamond rings are multiplying with each victory.

'How do you fight through that and keep yourself hungry — separate yourself from the Dancing with the Stars (on which Mayweather appeared), the undefeated record, the six or seven belts and all that stuff, when do you become mentally soft and spiritually soft?' he asked. 'Who will be able to suck it up? Who will cross that line and knock on the door of greatness and say, "Here I am — open up".

'We know what keeps our fire lit. Part of Mayweather's fire being lit is that he has to do things to draw attention to himself. He has to be a super-ego. He has to be two personalities, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. When they have got the money in the bank, they have to find things to keep that fire lit.

'When that fire's not lit, you can't train the same; think the same. Spiritually you're not the same. You got a cut on your eye in the eighth round and it's a barn-burning fight, you have to reach within and fight like a hungry poor man instead of a famous rich man.'

Thoroughly pleased with these ruminations, Hopkins left, presumably to saddle a white horse. 'That was a hell of a speech,' he told himself.