Home away from home.

That's what Las Vegas was to around 30,000 singing Brits, who descended upon Las Vegas in their droves, when their working-class hero Ricky Hatton took on pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr.

"It was just good cop versus bad cop," Hatton told The Ring in March. "I was the people's champion, all for my fans and putting on a good show and Floyd was the opposite to me, it's not about the fans, it's all about money. It just made for a fantastic build up. It was a clash of styles, clash of personalities. We just never saw eye to eye, for everything I stand for, he was the opposite which made for a bit of animosity."

Mayweather (38-0, 25 KOs) had scored a 12-round split decision win over Oscar De La Hoya in May to claim the WBC junior middleweight title but was coming back to welterweight for Hatton (43-0, 31 KOs).

He entered their contest after an impressive fourth-round stoppage over former Mayweather opponent Jose Luis Castillo in a junior welterweight fight six months earlier.

Both sides entered into talks and after some time, managed to get a deal over the line.

"A lot [of the talks were] over the phone, I know we had a couple of trips over to Las Vegas, with my solicitor and my dad," he recalled. "It was a number of meetings over a period of time. I remember it not being an easy job to get it finalized."

The event dubbed "Undefeated" kicked off a five-city press tour. It began in Los Angeles before moving to Grand Rapids and New York before going across the Atlantic to London, then culminating in Manchester. Tickets ranging from $150 all the way up to $1000 went on sale and were sold out in 35 minutes.

Hatton was notorious for blowing up in weight between fights and entered camp at about 13 stone [182-pounds.] However, rather than making the usual junior welterweight limit, he had the buffer of an extra seven pounds to play with.

"It was a good camp," said Hatton, who hired four South American sparring partners. "I think what stood us in good stead in the Floyd fight was I was able to fight at welterweight, don't forget I had won the WBA welterweight title beating Luis Collazo, so I was able to take from that fight, moving up seven pounds and try to do it better for the Mayweather fight.

"I moved up to welterweight and decided to [go back] junior welterweight where I ended up boxing Juan Urango and Jose Luis Castillo, I think the manner of my performance against Castillo, I think that's when we got offered the Floyd Mayweather fight.

"From what I remember of the Collazo fight I came in a little bit too heavy, I normally weigh [140lbs] and get in the ring at [154lbs]. When I weighed 147 against Collazo, I got in the ring [at 163.8lbs], made me very ponderous and slow. So, what I decided to do for the Mayweather fight, weigh in about 145 and then got in the ring at 154, the weight I perform best at. Even though Floyd's the bigger man, I need to come in at the weight I do best at.

"I think it was a good move because in the early rounds, it caused Floyd problems. If I'd come in like I did against Collazo, I don't think I'd have laid a glove on him."

Such was Hatton's star power at the time, the airlines were laying on direct flights from his home in Manchester to Las Vegas.

"It was incredible," he said proudly. "There was planes going with no holiday makers, just people going to the fights."

Hatton's previous two fights in Las Vegas helped stand him in good stead.

"My first fight against Juan Urango, I went a couple of weeks before and stayed at the casino, which consequently staying in the casino with the air-conditioning, we were wet behind the ears," he admitted. "[We] stayed at Paris in a suite, and it was the worst thing I did. [We] learnt from that for the Castillo fight, certainly for the Mayweather fight.

"We hired an apartment just off the strip, hired a chief to come in and do all my cooking, rented another apartment for my sparring partners to be on my doorstep."

The first event of the week was the MGM Grand arrivals, putting the boxing world on notice for what they were about to witness.

"It was fantastic, when I walked into the hotel lobby for the opening ceremony it was like walking down Deansgate in Manchester - it was incredible," he reminisced.

"It must have been a bit daunting for Floyd as well. He's in his hometown, if I'd boxed Floyd in Manchester and 30,000 Americans were in the hotel lobby, all the bars and restaurants singing, I think it would have affected me. I know Floyd is Floyd, he's so good and adapts to every situation but would probably admit it would have been a bit of a culture shock to him.

Both fighters remained calm at the final press conference as they conserved their energy for what lay ahead.

"I remember Floyd being a lot more humble, more cool. On the media tour, he was so disrespectful, I just took it in my stride because I know what Floyd's like. I think when he saw the UK in the hotel before the press conference, he thought the sensible thing is to keep my mouth shut. He showed me 100 percent respect because that wasn't what he said in the build-up, but the fight had already been sold, so I think he was a lot more respectful."

However, tensions shifted in front of a hostile pro-Hatton crowd of 10,000 at the weigh-in, singing, "There's only one Ricky Hatton.' as both made the 147-pound limit and went head-to-head.

The Brits made their presence felt during fight week.

"The MGM ran out of beer; they had to send out to other casinos," he said laughing. "They said the casino had never earned as much money in the history of the MGM over the bar, the tables, it was that manic and makes you feel very, very proud."

On fight night, the arena exploded when Hatton made his way to the ring through a cacophony of noise.

"I genuinely believed I could beat Floyd Mayweather," he said. "I didn't go in there to make the numbers up; I went in there to win.

"I went racing out the traps, I got Mayweather, and he stumbled back. I was going for the kill. My forte was the body shot, and I went to put pressure on him. I got him and it's around that time every time I got close to him the ref, Joe Cortez, kept breaking the fight up. I started to lose momentum.

"You've got to be concentrating on the fight and opponent and once you start losing your concentration, it's half the battle. The referee was so against me and it's a shame because when I boxed Castillo, he let me box. I'm not saying I would have beat Floyd but at least I'd have had a fair chance of trying to beat him.

"[Trainer] Billy [Graham] said to me, 'Rick, it's not going to happen.' I went out there to try to knock him out and as history showed, I got knocked out myself. I was devastated."

Hatton visited the local hospital and then returned to where he was staying and drowned his sorrows. He stayed in Las Vegas with his girlfriend Jennifer, and close friends for a couple of days.

"I was very, very low and came back to England," he admitted. "I was depressed for months, that was the start of my depression."