JOSHUA NEEDS TO GAMBLE ON SIN CITY
RICKY HATTON reckons that Anthony Joshua has to follow him to Las Vegas before he can call himself a global superstar.
The former two-weight world champion believes topping the bill in Sin City is something the WBA and IBF heavyweight champion has got to do to really strike it rich.
Hatton has watched Joshua’s rise to become Britain’s biggest sports star with glee, as he sells out his third stadium fight in a row tonight.
But he wants to see him become a star attraction on The Strip too.
“I think Joshua will have to go to America,” said Hatton, who fought five times in the fight capital of the world, including money-spinning defeats by Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Manny Pacquiao.
“I could have got more than 16,000 in the MGM. If I had fought Mayweather in England I would have got 100,000 but are 100,000 bums on seats as big as box office numbers in the US?
“They pay 60 dollars for pay-per-view in a country 10 times bigger than the UK. You don’t want to be a heavyweight champion of the world and have the wonderful career he has already had and not go to America to make your name.
“It would be heartbreaking for him to achieve so much – Olympic gold, world heavyweight champion – and not see his name up in lights on The Strip.
“I think he should go over there because that is where he will make the most money.
“It is a part of your legacy too – go out of your comfort zone and still do the business. I believe he will do that.
“You want to be world champion, you want to be top of the bill.”
Hatton believes Joshua arriving in Las Vegas with his army of fans would see the Brits drink the casino bars dry like they did in his heyday.
He said: “Imagine Joshua’s fans going over. It would be like bringing back the days I was there against Floyd.
“My fans drank the bars dry and I wasn’t even the one drinking as I was fighting.
“You can’t tell me that if we have a heavyweight champion who goes over there to fight Deontay Wilder, that we can’t get 40,000 Brits there supporting him like they did me.”