Ok I see this fight has taken one step closer to materialisation and I've also seen that virtually everyone is opposed to this fight.

As such I am hereby adopting my usual roles as Devil's Advocate and the Anti Gamo campaigner and will attempt to defend this fight.

You guys are all talking about this fight as if it's a tiny little flyweight against a huge junior welterweight. IT'S NOT!

Both fighters are EXACTLY THE SAME SIZE!!

Manny measures 5 ft 6.5 inches with a 67 inch reach. Ricky measures 5 ft 6.5 with a 65 inch reach. Advantage Manny!

Both fighters come into their fights weighing over the 10 stone limit. Manny has campaigned at much lower weights but he is not smaller.

It's not much different than B Hop spending all those years at middleweight. See them side by side and he's actually slightly bigger than Joe Calzaghe, Roy Jones Jr and James Toney, great fighters who campaigned at higher weights than him.

Secondly this fight is only in the discussion phase. I'm sure if it does happen Manny will fight first at 135 lbs and see how he copes with the extra weight. If he copes ok then a fight with Ricky is a possibility, if he doesn't then I'm sure the Hatton fight idea would be scrapped. Let's adopt a wait and see approach before castigating everyon involved.

Thirdly, and this is important. Boxers who reach the very top of their game have a RIGHT to fight each other and earn big money. These guys have made sacrifices their entire lives and risked their health, pride, alternative careers etc into making their boxing dreams work.

They certainly shouldn't be begrudged a big payday and the chance to participate in a huge PPV event, and let's face it Hatton vs Pacquiao would be huge!

And now let's consider the alternatives that these guys have. Gamo and his ilk are imploring Ricky Hatton to fight Junior Witter or Paulie Malignaggi to try and reassert himself as king at 140lbs.

F****** hell perlease give me a break! Hatton is near the end of his career. He conquered the junior welterwight division. He defeated the legendary Kosta Tyszu and moved up and won a title at 147 for good measure. He then challenged the world's greatest fighter in one of the biggest British fights of all time!

Where is the motivation to go back down to 140 and fight guys who nobody apart from hardcore fans has even heard of? From Ricky's point of view what is the incentive? To beat guys he's already expected to beat in lowkey fights for half the money he'd get fighting a true p4p legend of the sport. Ask yourselves who would you choose to fight?

Lord know's I'm not a Hatton fan but the guy aimed his sights at being the best fighter in the world. He cleaned up at 140, won a belt at 147 and failed at the last hurdle against Floyd Mayweather. He now has a couple years left in the sport and wants to spend this brief period taking part in mega events against the biggest names in the sport, how can you begrudge him that?

Likewise Manny Pacquiao. Yes he could fight Juan Guzman or Juan Diaz or Valero but ultimately why shouldn't he take the hardest challenge for the most money? Pacquaio has won titles in multiple divisions, he's beaten and knocked out legends of the sport in Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. Why does he care to add Juan Guzman to his resume?

The only logical opponent out there for Pac is J M Marquez, after that if he wins he's free to aim as high as he pleases and to get the biggest PPV event's he can.

You have to realise that all of these great fighters are at different stages of their careers. They have already conquered divisons and challenged for the top, now their talents have finally got them to the top they want, (and have every right in the world to do so) to take part in the biggest events for the most money.

To criticise Ricky Hatton and say he should turn down a multi million dollar mega showdown with argueably the world's most exciting and popular fighter in favour of fighting Junior Witter at the Doncaster Dome diplays a level of ignorance both in boxing terms and personal human behaviour that just beggers belief.

So in summary, IF this fight takes place it WILL be competitive, both fghters are the same size after all, with the small reach advantage actually going to Manny Pacquaio, and BOTH fighters will have fully justified the right to participate in a huge mega event as they both throughout their careers displayed the courage and ambition to drive themselves to challenge for the very top.

If it happened, I for one would look forward to it.