Hatton is £10million Vegas hit
By PAT SHEEHAN
Published: Today
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RICKY HATTON is in line for a £10million pay day as the cash generated by his fight with Floyd Mayweather tops all expectations.
Hitman Hatton will scoop the richest purse of his career when he bids to take Mayweather's WBC welterweight title in Las Vegas a week tomorrow.
And conservative estimates reckon the showdown is set to bring in close to a staggering £60m with the British star getting his share.
Pay-per-view sales in the States are expected to top 1.5m which will net £41.25m.
And all 16,000 tickets to see the fight live at the MGM Grand Hotel were snapped up within 30 minutes of going on sale, generating another £5m.
On top of that, other casino-hotels on the Vegas strip will screen the fight - and so far 18,000 tickets have been sold worth around £500,000.
But that figure is sure to grow when ticketless Brits arrive.
Plenty booked flights to Vegas months ago despite only a faint chance of getting in to see Hatton's fight in person.
The face of boxing
Here in the UK, Sky Box Office are also screening the fight with around 400,000 viewers coughing up around £6m.
And major firms are falling over themselves to be associated with the richest non-heavyweight title fight of all time, coughing up £5m in sponsorship deals.
When Hatton fought in the UK, his opponents always expected to bank their biggest ever purse. Kostya Tszyu pocketing more than £2m for his bout in Manchester in June 2005.
But Mayweather insists HE is the draw in Vegas and rapped: "I'm the face of boxing!"
The unbeaten American, 30, added: "When Oscar de la Hoya faced all those other guys, he didn't get what he got when he faced me. I was his biggest payday.
Floyd Mayweather
ON THE MONEY ...
Mayweather yesterday
"Zab Judah made his biggest payday with me, Carlos Baldomir had his biggest payday with me, Ricky Hatton is getting his highest ever purse. The list goes on and on."
While Hatton is a national hero this side of the Atlantic, America is still split over Mayweather who loves to antagonise with his flash lifestyle and outrageous comments.
Richard Schaefer, CEO of the fight's Promoter's Golden Boy Promotions, said: "Floyd has something like no other fighter - half of his audience absolutely loves the guy, the other half doesn't.
"They love him for his talent, his smile, how flashy he is, everything he stands for and how brilliant in the ring he is.
"The other half, they hate the guy. They can't wait for him to lose.
"It drives them crazy when they see him throwing money around and they ask what kind of a signal does that send to the youth.
"You have these two big groups with different agendas, but one thing in common: They all want to see him fight."