Hatton lines up De La Hoya homecoming

Ricky Hatton's reward for shattering the unbeaten record of Floyd Mayweather will be the title of the best fighter on the planet - and a triumphant Wembley homecoming against Oscar De La Hoya.

Hatton's lawyer Gareth Williams has confirmed that talks are already at an advanced stage for the super-fight which would be expected to shatter box office records at the new national stadium next May.

And Williams said: "The chances are very strong. We have strong links with Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy (Promotions) and we have had discussions with them about fighting Oscar at Wembley."

He added: "It would be the perfect venue and we could look at selling in excess of 80,000 tickets. Oscar has achieved everything in boxing bar recording the record live gate - and he could achieve that if he fought in the UK against Ricky."

A projected fight with De La Hoya will take place irrespective of Hatton's success or otherwise against Mayweather, and take place at a time to suit both the British fans and the American pay-per-view giants.

Williams added: "It wouldn't be a 3am fight. We'd looking to do it possibly on a Sunday evening. Americans have a tradition of watching sport on Sunday afternoons so it would be ideal that way."

De La Hoya has long spoken of his admiration for Hatton's fighting style and has been a regular in the Hit Man's off-Strip gym this week to help him put finishing touches to his game-plan for Mayweather.

Having dropped a narrow split decision to Mayweather earlier this year, there could hardly be anyone better than the experienced De La Hoya to present Hatton with a blueprint for victory. Hatton has studied tapes of De La Hoya's performance and is utterly confident that he possesses the necessary extra dimensions to succeed where the 'Golden Boy' only just failed.

Hatton said: "It seems funny me criticising him, but if you look at De La Hoya he is a tactician and a combination puncher. Mayweather wants you to throw combinations so you miss a lot and get tired.

"Oscar has told me that he believes he would have won the fight if he could have done in the last six rounds what he did in the first six. He watched me train on Monday and believes I can do that."