Cowboys plus Brits plus bling equals chaos

On the other side, stumbling cheerily along singing “God Save the Queen,” are thousands of British boxing fans. Big personalities draped in big red flags and tipping big pints of Guinness.

Mingling between both groups are those fans who closely follow Floyd Mayweather Jr., perhaps a group or two from Philthy Rich Records (official motto: all money is good money), which means a lot of big bling.

Man, are we in for a rowdy time. It could make the NBA All-Star Weekend look like a scrapbooking convention.

Twelve weeks is apparently all the retirement Mayweather could handle. The only surprising part: It took this long to make his next fight.

Mayweather has agreed to engage Ricky Hatton in a 147-pound welterweight bout on Dec. 8 at a Las Vegas casino to be named, a fight that could — where have we seen this before? — create far more excitement outside the ring than inside. It happened when Mayweather fought Oscar De La Hoya, when even a split decision couldn’t disguise the fact that the fight’s buildup produced more drama than anything on May 5.

Hatton and Mayweather — a combined 81-0 with 55 knockouts — should generate even more external buzz.

Europe will see to it.

“Ricky Hatton has a lot of charisma,” said Leonard Ellerbe, adviser to Mayweather. “He has a tremendous following in Europe. Floyd is the best fighter in the world with his own tremendous fan base. We’re talking about two young, undefeated fighters at the top of their games. This is another mega-fight for Las Vegas.”

Which could do more mega pay-per-view numbers for HBO.

Hatton will come to fight and be the aggressor and swing with abandon. He will press and press for action but fail in his untamed nature to penetrate Mayweather’s defense.

Mayweather will win a decision, and British fans will howl with displeasure before catching taxis to the Crown & Anchor Pub to consume unsightly amounts of alcohol while cursing three judges and the national embarrassment that is Victoria Beckham.

Which will be all too fine with June LeMay, manager of the Crown & Anchor.

Thousands of British fans have followed Hatton here for two previous fights, when he won a unanimous decision against Juan Urango in January and knocked out an ancient Jose Luis Castillo in June.

The Brits purchase packages complete with airfare and hotel (good luck finding a sensible rate the week of NFR) and fight tickets, attending Hatton’s weigh-ins in droves while singing songs and throwing back bottles of rum.

British media record Hatton’s every breath. It’s not to the level of lunacy as Beckham’s hubby coming to the States for soccer (that is, if he ever plays more than a few minutes), but it’s real and noticeable.

“There is definitely a big increase (in business) when (Hatton fights),” LeMay said. “Not as big as a World Cup, but pretty big. He brings a lot of people over with him. We’ll be packed that week in December. Wow — I’ll have to get organized for it.”

Many things still must be finalized/announced, perhaps as soon as Monday: The site, which probably will be the MGM Grand Garden. The reported co-promotion by Mayweather and De La Hoya’s company, Golden Boy, which should create memorable photo ops. If it’s humanely possible for any Golden Boy promotion to include an undercard that doesn’t put everyone to sleep. What type of marketing strategy HBO has planned for the weeks before Dec. 8.

Here’s one vote for another 24/7 miniseries similar to the one broadcast before De La Hoya-Mayweather. It’s just a guess, but footage of Hatton hanging around a few pubs in Manchester would be more entertaining than De La Hoya presenting his wife a birthday cake.

“The sky is the limit for how big this fight can be,” Mayweather said. “Ricky Hatton is a hell of a fighter. I’m a hell of a fighter. I’ll be ready to go. My team is ready to go. Hatton has never seen the kind of big event he’s in for with this fight.

“He wanted the opportunity, so now he has to step to the plate and become a home run hitter. There will be far more excitement with this than when I fought Oscar. And just like then, I’ll be the one with my hand raised in the end.”

He will be, but that’s not the intriguing part.

It will be more interesting to see what happens between all those cowboys and Brits and Philthy Rich music lovers on the Strip.

Ed Graney’s column is published Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. He can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.