And HBO Sports vice president for programming Kery Davis is convinced an impressive win for the Mancunian will open the door to the mega-fights he craves.

“Ricky Hatton is a huge star in the making,” Davis told the Boston Globe. “We’ve had our eyes on him for a long time.

“If there was anybody in the sport we wanted to get our hands on, it was Ricky.

“This is a tough challenge for Ricky, facing a slick southpaw like Collazo, who everyone seems to underestimate.

“But if he wins, we foresee matching him against Arturo Gatti and then Floyd Mayweather Jr. By the end of those three fights, he’ll be as big a star in the US as he is in Britain.”

Hatton will step up a division after last year claiming the IBF and WBA light-welterweight titles with wins over Kostya Tszyu and Carlos Maussa.

“I had to come to the United States to prove myself,” said Hatton. “I fought for a long time in England and a lot of people thought I was a protected fighter.”

Collazo, meanwhile, has won 26 of his 27 bouts and will be making the second defence of a title he took with a split decision win over Jose Antonio Rivera.

The New Yorker said: “His team is underestimating me. They’re talking about a Floyd Mayweather fight that will give him recognition as the pound-for-pound best fighter, but he’ll find out that at 147 it’s a whole different ballgame,” quotes www.fightnews.com.