Mayweather lacks Ali class - Graham - Sport in brief

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Mayweather has stolen many headlines leading up to his fight with Hatton on Sunday with his bravado but Graham rates the 'trash-talking' of the man who rates himself above even the likes of Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson as a pretty pale imitation to that of 'The Greatest'.

"Ali was the master," Graham recalls. "He was funny, and you could see that he was a really nice guy behind it all. Floyd's neither got his wit nor his timing. He's a very poor imitation of Muhammad Ali."

He continued: "He can rant and rave and shout and say all the things he wants - but it doesn't matter to me, or more importantly to Ricky. I've met plenty of fighters who are a bit intimidating. But Floyd's not intimidating; he's not scary.

"I know the bloke's got a lot of ability - but he's not a scary man. I think somewhere hidden deep down is a nice guy who's a little bit insecure. I'm not so sure he's as confident as he says he is."

Graham is bracing himself for another noisy and high-profile week of pre-fight hype in Las Vegas, starting with both fighters' showcase arrival at the MGM Grand Casino venue tomorrow.

And with the 'Hitman' preparing for the biggest fight of his career Graham stressed that he was always confident the man from Manchester would be a world beater.

"We could easily have padded our bank balances out, because enough people would pay to see Ricky fight Humpty Dumpty in Britain and make him a lot of money," added Graham.

"But that's not the point. I always knew Ricky would be an all-time great. I never doubted it from the first day I met him. I predicted he would be top of the bill in Las Vegas, when he was 17 years old.

"That's how much I could see in him. That's how much he stood out to me - and I wasn't someone who was just used to training mediocre fighters. I'd had a lot of champions before I met Ricky Hatton."