Darren Campbell says his old mate Ricky Hatton can upset the odds and beat Floyd Mayweather.
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Boyhood chum Darren Campbell is backing Ricky Hatton to upset the odds.
The Olympic gold medallist and Living For Sport ambassador grew up in Manchester with the Hitman and even shared the same Thai boxing school in Sale.
Hatton goes into Undefeated on Saturday as the underdog, but having upset the Americans to scoop the 4x100m relay gold at Athens 2004, Campbell is backing his mate to do the same to Floyd Mayweather.
"I think they are similar," he told
The Mirror. "In Athens, everyone was so sure the Americans were going to win - including them. They'd won the three individual medals and were hot favourites.
"I spoke to the rest of the guys before the race and said this can be our moment, this is our chance to make history. And we did.
"Ricky is also a big underdog and I think Mayweather may be making the same mistake the Americans did by writing him off."
Campbell has stayed friends with Hatton ever since their childhood but will not be making the trans-Atlantic trip.
Anything up to 20,000 fight fans - the majority of them from Manchester - are expected to invade Las Vegas this weekend, but the retired sprinter won't be one of them.
Instead he will have to settle for sending a good-luck text and settling down to watch the fight on Sky Box Office.
Campbell's time is now taken up with Sky's Living for Sport initiative, a project that attempts to get disengaged kids interested in school through sport.
And like Hatton, he has never forgotten his roots.
"I grew up on a council estate myself and I know how tough it is to go the right way," he said.
"I'm helping show these kids, who have may have dropped out of school, how to turn their lives around and choose the right way."
