I'LL be in Manchester over the weekend to watch what I believe is a massive fight for Britain - Ricky Hatton's bid to take the IBF world light-welterweight crown from Russian-born Australian holder Kostya Tszyu.

And contrary to most pundits, I believe Hatton has a great chance of winning and upsetting the form book. With British boxing in the state it's in at the moment it needs some new stars. Joe Calzaghe is 33 now and can't go on for ever.

It's imperative some new, young fighters come through to carry the flag and make sure boxing in Britain remains a mainstream sport and Ricky Hatton and Amir Khan are two who can do that.

Ricky's a great guy, exciting and down to earth and I'd love him to beat Tszyu. He reminds me a bit of myself in as much as when we're expected to win we sometimes put in a bit of a flat performance. Sometimes you need a bit of fear to bring out the best in you.

That was the case when I fought the Americans Charles Brewer and Byron Mitchell. I knew they were dangerous so I fought better.

Hatton knows how dangerous Tszyu is and I think that will bring out the best in him and with the odds the bookies are giving I think I might have a bet on him.

Being the underdog can work in his favour. A lot of people expect him to lose, so a lot of presssure will be off him. And though Tszyu is a wicked puncher and a world class operator, he could be a bit over the top and a bit ring rusty.

Tszyu is the better fighter, but he's 35 and has only fought twice in the past couple of years and he's fighting in front of 22,000 Hatton fans.

Some claim Tszyu is one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world, but they sometimes forget he has been beaten and in fact has been stopped.

He does possess a tremendous right hand and Ricky looks to throw the left hook to the body all the time and does leave himself open to that punch.

So there is a fear that early on he'll move in and walk on to one of those massive rights.

But Hatton looks in tremendous shape, he'll be right up for the fight, and I genuinely believe it's a 50-50 contest.

Basically, Hatton has to put a lot of pressure on Tszyu without getting careless. He has to show controlled aggression.

Tszyu is a good boxer as well as a good puncher and if Ricky rushes in, the Australian will step back and pick him off.

Ricky has to build gradually, throw a lot of jabs, keep his head and body moving and step up the pace as the fight goes on and hopefully in the second half he can move on strong.

The day before the Hatton fight (scheduled for 2am on Sunday) Scotland's Scott Harrison defends his WBO world featherweight title against Manchester's Michael Brodie and again I think this could go to the underdog.

I've never rated Harrison that highly. He was lucky to draw his last fight (against Victor Polo) and as far as I'm concerned is not a true world class fighter.

IBF world super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy, my likely opponent in a unification fight early next year, will be at the Hatton fight, so I may have some news on that score next week. Lacy is to have a breakfast meeting with promoter Frank Warren, which is more than I have been able to manage this week.

Frank has been so busy with the build up to Hatton/Tszyu that it's American TV station Showtime, who are televising the Hatton fight around the world, are also bringing over other US stars such as Ronald 'Winky' Wright and Diego Corrales so it should be an exciting weekend.

Just to end, I have to mention that amazing European Champions League final win by Liverpool over AC Milan.

I was back home in Sardinia watching the game on TV with relatives and felt sick at half time when they were 3-0 down. My relatives are Juventus fans and couldn't care less about AC Milan so they wanted Liverpool to win like me.

Before I left Wales I gave my dad £40 and asked him to put a bet on for Liverpool to win on penalties (I thought it would end 0-0 and go to a shoot-out).

So when it was 3-0 at the interval I was pretty low but obviously brightened up considerably when Liverpool drew level and then took the game to penalties before winning.

Imagine how gutted I was therefore when my dad arrived in Sardinia later to tell me he couldn't get the bet on at odds of around 12-1 because he'd left it too late and the local bookie wouldn't take the bet. I won't tell you what I said.