Ricky Hatton would love to finish his glittering career with a victory against P4P king Floyd Mayweather Jr and says he's had "tougher dinners" than the 'Pretty Boy'.
'The Hitman' is aiming to thrust himself right into contention for a superfight with Mayweather by winning his Las Vegas bout with Jose Luis Castillo on June 23, but accepts time is running out to secure such a dream finale.
As one of Britain's most celebrated boxing heroes in recent times, Hatton (42-0, 30KOs) has very few targets left to hit before he calls it a day inside the ring and has no doubts how he'd want to bow out.
"To do Madison Square Garden at the top of the bill and hopefully get Mayweather because he's the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world," he said. "These are big possibilities should I beat Castillo.
"I've achieved the majority of my goals already. Being the best in the world was one thing along with winning six world titles in two weights and topping the bill in Las Vegas.
"But I think if I could be the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet in any weight division I could definitely put my slippers on and put my feet up."
Hatton's triumphs over Kostya Tszyu, Carlos Maussa, Luis Collazo and Juan Urango since 2005 have put him well and truly in the global big time and earlier this year Sugar Ray Leonard claimed he has what it takes to shock the 'Pretty Boy'.
The 28-year-old from Hyde agrees and thinks Mayweather's recent WBC light-middleweight clash with Oscar De La Hoya has given him more grounds to be optimistic.
"I'd like to think so," he added. "I don't think everybody would share the same opinion but if I look at the Mayweather/De La Hoya fight, when De La Hoya put the pressure on, Mayweather shut up shop and he didn't really want to know.
"By the midway stage I thought, 'Floyd, you're going to have to pull your finger out here' but it's only when De La Hoya tired when it changed. Whether that's to do with his age, the number of hard fights or because his enthusiasm isn't there, but I think Mayweather only won it by one round in the end.
"So imagine someone like me who can go to start to finish, I wouldn't have let him back in the fight. So as good and talented as Mayweather is, it's not beyond me and I think I would beat him and only time will tell if I get my chance."
It has been mooted that the only way to bring Mayweather over to England for a possible fight would be to hold a glamour bill at the new Wembley Stadium, but the 28-year-old from Hyde doesn't even think that would be enough.
He said: "I don't think Mayweather would come over here, not even at Wembley, he'll want to stay in America. Although he said initially he'd like to come over here and fight me because a few years ago nobody really rated me and then I beat who I did and I think he changed his mind then."
Hatton is also doubtful if Mayweather can ever be called a true great when you consider the timing he's chosen to face some of his previous victims.
The American has defeated the likes of Arturo Gatti, Carlos Baldomir, Diego Corrales and Zab Judah as well as De La Hoya in May, but none of these have impressed Hatton too much.
He said: "Gatti was a little bit past it, Diego Corrales was a super-featherweight who looked a bit weight-drained, Carlos Baldomir was 'win some lose some', Zab Judah had seen better days and as fantastic as a result it was, even De La Hoya had seen better days than that."
Hatton has also mocked Mayweather's toughness amid pipedream talk of an almost fantasy bout between the pair in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
He joked: "There's as much chance of Manchester City winning the European Cup as Mayweather fighting in the UFC! You can't even get him to fight in the boxing ring.
"Floyd is safe enough in the boxing ring where he can jab and move and run and keep out the way. He's a wonderful talent but as far as mixing it up as a tough guy goes, I've had tougher dinners."
Having said that Hatton says he wouldn't be tempted to try it either, but admits it makes great viewing.
He added: "I'm a big fan of the UFC but not when they start grappling and wrestling and rolling around on the floor for three minutes at a time. But when they're stood toe to toe and having a go at it I think you'd be hard pushed to find anything as exciting really.
"But you won't get Floyd Mayweather to stand still long enough."
Hatton should be concentrating on Castillo, instead of worrying about Mayweather.
I still don't hold out much hope of Mayweather vs Hatton ever happening. Floyd has just received a $20M+ purse for the De La Hoya. I can't see even being tempted back into the ring for a substantial amount less than that.
