Ed Robinson is in LA behind the scenes with Floyd Mayweather and Ricky Hatton - and you-know-who...
Ed Robinson goes on the road with Ricky Hatton
Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather have embarked on their five-date, trans-Atlantic press tour. Sky Sports Ed Robinson is following them both sides of the pond for skysports.com. It is the biggest fight involving a Briton for years and you can see it live on Sky Box Office, but first, see what goes on behind the scenes as two of the biggest names in the game literally go head-to-head...
Our day began 24 hours ago, now, finally it was time to relax before the expected chaos of Monday's big press conference.
Checked in at our hotel near Universal Studios in Los Angeles, we could sit, eat and congratulate ourselves on a successful day - we'd filmed two of Britain's most high-profile sporting exports together - Ricky Hatton meeting David Beckham.
But this is not a holiday for team Hatton. It's six o'clock in the morning UK time and we're all close to exhaustion, but for Ricky it's time to go to work.
So our relaxation time's cut short as we sort out the camera and follow the team to the gym. He's preparing for the most important fight of his life and he's got 12 weeks to get it right and get in the shape of his life.
We'd met at Heathrow just before eight on the Sunday morning, a little early but at least we were sure to catch Ricky checking in at Terminal Three.
He arrived pushing his own luggage with his long term team, manager/father Ray, trainer Billy Graham, agent Paul Speak and nutritionist Kerry Kayes.
We grabbed our first shots of the team and a word with the fighter, obviously excited at the trip in hand and the chance of some verbal sparring with his ultimate rival - Floyd Mayweather Junior.
They clash in December for Mayweather's welterweight belt of course and, more importantly, the ranking of the pound for pound the number one fighter on the planet.
Both unbeaten, a string of belts between them and with widely contrasting styles and personalities - it's a fight for the ages.
Mayweather the brash, cocky, flash but extremely gifted American, Hatton the down to earth, all-action boy next door from Hyde near Manchester.
Ricky's a star in his own right but so excited at what this city-a-day press tour has in store for him.
Los Angeles presser Monday, Michigan Tuesday, New York Wednesday, London Thursday and home to Manchester Friday, head-to-head every day, trading jibes and sizing each other up.
Ricky slept on the flight and had no problem with us filming him when awake. Billy read a book on snakes, one of his passions, to pass the time.
Kerry monitored Ricky's supplements and food intake, mixing his nutritional shakes. At customs they sized up our i-visas, asked our business and then backed the Englishman.
Then it was straight to Carson and the home of LA Galaxy. Beckham invited Ricky to be his guest.
First Ricky was out on the pitch, meeting the teams and then greeting his host. The Hitman's a big football fan, Wayne Rooney carried his belt into the ring for his last fight.
It's very disarming, Ricky's fan-like mentality around fellow sports stars. And sure enough, when we speak to Ricky as he leaves the venue, he's made up.
They swapped autographed items, Beckham left the venue with an arm full of gloves, Hatton shirts and even boots.
And David's going to the fight in Las Vegas - a promise!
