Have the Hitman's fans met their match?

While news conferences at Lord's and Twickenham usually have all the razzmatazz of a Requiem Mass, you can be sure that when there's a big fight that needs promoting, the nation's boxing writers will get a little more than a ream of platitudes to go with their custard creams.

So at London's Imperial War Museum, we were treated to a history lesson on the Second World War from promoter Bob Arum and some rhymes from Ricky Hatton's trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr.

Oh, and the startling revelation from Manny Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach that his charge ran away from home as a boy after discovering his father had eaten his dog.

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Just as well really, because all the signs are that the build-up to Hatton-Pacquiao on 4 May is going to be a veritable love-in, with both men engaging in a game of darts down Hatton's local on Saturday (Hatton won with a double two) before piling on the mutual admiration at the news conference on Monday.

"The Philippine army never surrendered throughout World War II and fought the Japanese army to a standstill," said Arum. "And Manny represents the heart and spirit of the Filipino people.

"It's hard for you to imagine what Manny Pacquiao means to the 90m people in his country.

"There's been insurgencies that have been going on for 40 years, and the day Manny fights there's a truce between the government and the guerrillas, everyone lays down their guns."

Arum went on to suggest that Pacquiao, a four-weight world champion, would be president of his country "within 10 years". To anyone who was present at the Trafford Centre at the weekend, that probably doesn't seem too far-fetched.

There are 200,000 Filipinos living in the UK, and most of them seemed to be in Manchester to cheer their man on. Remarkably, Hatton's fans were outpointed in 'The Hitman's' backyard. As Pacquiao put it, "it shouldn't be called Manchester, it should be called Manny-chester."

The clash at the MGM Grand, between light-welterweight king Hatton and pound-for-pound king Pacquiao, is being billed as 'The Battle of East and West'. And in the absence of any pre-fight malice between the boxers themselves, much will be made of the coming together of two great sets of fans.

Source: bbc.co.uk