It could be Showtime for outstanding Hatton

Ricky Hatton was today set to accept an invitation to abandon the comforts of home for the freezing environment of Moscow in order to sit ringside at the fight that could help define his career.

Showtime, one of America's two leading boxing broadcasters, want Hatton to swap his leather gloves for fur mittens and be present in the snow-bound Russian capital when Kostya Tszyu and Sharmba Mitchell contest the undisputed light-welterweight championship of the world in the first week of February.

Jay Larkin, Showtime's head of boxing, was among a raucous sell-out crowd of 17,000 at Manchester's MEN Arena on Saturday when Hatton retained both his undefeated record and his WBU title with a totally dominant points win against Ghanaian hard man Ben Tackie.

And he was so impressed by the boxing maturity displayed by the 25-year-old that he now views him as a credible challenger to either Tszyu, the Australia-based Russian who is regarded as one of the sport's best pound-forpound fighters, or veteran Mitchell of the United States. A showdown between Hatton and either Tszyu or Mitchell could happen in America next year. "We want Ricky to become more than a local phenomenon," said Larkin.

That will bring him into friendly conflict with Frank Warren who has promoted eight of Hatton's last 10 bouts in Manchester. Both men know that Hatton, now unbeaten in 34 professional fights, is firmly established as an international attraction and money-maker wherever he climbs between the ropes.

But while the MEN Arena may not attract the kind of celebrity audience that turns up in Las Vegas, Warren asked the question: "Where else are we going to get a crowd and an atmosphere like this? I don't want to desert the fans who have been so great to Ricky. If he fights Tszyu or Mitchell, it should take place here."

There is even talk of a double-header at Manchester City's football ground, where Blues fan Hatton is a season-ticket holder, towards the tail end of 2004. Hatton would fight for the undisputed crown while stablemate Joe Calzaghe defends his WBO super-middleweight title against Jeff Lacy, who stopped American Donnell Wiggins on Saturday's undercard.

Meanwhile, Robin Reid lost his challenge for the IBF and WBA super-middleweight belts on Saturday when he was beaten by Germany's Sven Ottke in Nuremberg on a points.