Sky Sports (UK) has been publishing “Ricky’s Dairy” as Hatton prepares for his fight next weekend against Paulie Malignaggi (which will be our debut “Boxing for MMA fans” live event). He attended UFC 91 last night and was impressed with the way MMA presents the sport and (rightfully) suggests that boxing could learn from that. All in all, he sounds more impressed with the Elvis statue at the Las Vegas Hilton–”The King” used to perform there back when it was the “International Hotel”. If you ever doubt that Elvis was a showman and entertainer without peer check out the DVD “Elvis: That’s The Way It Is” which documents his first run of shows at the Hilton/International and his preparation for them. If it ever comes down to a Sinatra v. Elvis debate we’ll obviously be backing “The Chairman of the Board” but Elvis was no joke, particularly on stage. Anyway, here’s Hatton’s comments:

I called in to the Hilton hotel toady and they have an Elvis statue outside. He did over 800 concerts at the Hilton, which is amazing. I love a bit of Elvis, so I had my photo taken next to the statue.

In the evening I went for gentle jog and then after dinner I went to the MGM to watch the UFC fights. The main event was Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar. It’s the first time I have been to a UFC fight live and I enjoyed the whole event.

I reckon boxing could learn from the UFC set-up. They had big-screen TVs with video clips of each fighter before the fights and they played music between fights. I hope it’s the same system when I fight next Saturday.

Thinking about it, it’s less than a week to my fight. I can’t wait!

Hatton also got a haircut and some blisters from running in his Doc Martens:

I had a lie in on Saturday. It’s all about resting now. My feet were full of blisters with running in boots so I decided to get a pedicure.

Whilst I was there I got my hair cut as well. I feel a lot better now. I hate it when my hair gets long - I am sure I lost a couple of pounds with the haircut!

Speaking of Hatton, he didn’t have the skills to hang with Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (few do) but he’s as tough as they come. His fight against Paulie Malignaggi should be a good one. Malignaggi’s only loss is to Miguel Cotto, and he’s got some of the best ring entrances seen in boxing since the retirement of “Prince” Nasem Hamed. Malignaggi may be the only fighter in history to have his hair extensions cut off during the middle of a bout–he was shorn by his trainer, Buddy McGirt, in the corner during his second fight against Lovemore N’Dou. Malignaggi is probably the slicker boxer of the two, but Hatton is just tough as nails and his ability to pressure and punish his opponents with his strength could be too much for “The Magic Man”.

If we had to guess, we’d expect the live crowd at the MGM Grand to be pro-Hatton. Malignaggi has a lot of fans to be sure, but Hatton’s British supporters are notorious for traveling to Las Vegas for “The Hit Man’s” fights and turning it into a drunken, European soccer style party with songs, cheers and the usual revelry. Hatton’s usual ring entrance music is an awful cover of the Rogers and Hart classic “Blue Moon”–it started life as a standard recorded by the top vocalists of the day including Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Dean Martin, Julie London, Joe Stafford and Billie Holliday and the aforementioned Elvis Presley (who did the first “rock” arrangement of the song). It became a hugely popular hit in the US, however, during the early days of rock n roll when a Pittsburgh based doo-wop band called The Marcells recorded it. Unless you’re a Manchester City soccer supporter (more about that in a moment) that’s likely the version you’ve heard…

Hatton’s “Blue Moon” is credited to “Manchester City”, which is his favorite soccer team from his hometown of Manchester, England. They’ve always existed in the shadows to some degree, with their cross town rivals, Manchester United, being one of the most famous (and most valuable) sports franchises in the world. Recently, Hatton has been doing a cool ring entrance that starts with air raid sirens and a recording of Winston Churchill’s classic “Never Surrender” speech–some of the most bad assed words ever uttered in the English language–before a segue way into “Blue Moon”. His supporters love it, so its not going anywhere…

In any case, it should be a rocking atmosphere for an entertaining fight next Saturday night…

Ricky Hatton on Elvis, UFC 91 @ Sky Sports (UK)