Fight night notes

The chief support to Hatton-Mayweather was Jeff Lacy versus Peter Manfredo Jr, two boxers who went a total of 15 rounds with Joe Calzaghe without even threatening to win a round.

Lacy looks a shadow of the fighter he was before Calzaghe dealt with him. He looked one-paced and his accuracy was terrible, particularly as he tried to follow up a third-round knockdown. Manfredo just doesn't look big enough to be a super-middleweight. Lacy was on top early on, but Manfredo is a brave fighter and stood with him throughout. Lacy got the decision, but looks washed up. If Calzaghe gives up his world titles, Mikkel Kessler and Carl Froch would have little problem with him on this evidence.

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From my seat, it is not that easy to spot celebrities, but I'm told that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are here, as are Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes. The first scuffle in the crowd broke out at about 8.10pm, but quickly quietened down. There are still national anthems to go, so don't expect Hatton-Mayweather to start until 8.45pm (that's 4.45am in Britain).

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You either love or hate the England football band, here courtesy of The Sun. Some people feel they add to an occasion, some people thing they are just annoying. During the chief support between Lacy and Manfredo, they started playing the theme from Steptoe and Son (one of a repertoire of about four songs they have played all week). While this may have been reasonably amusing when Floyd Mayweather Jr requested a song at the press conference on Wednesday, this time they crossed the line. I was brought up to respect boxers, who sometimes put their lives on the line for our entertainment. Being bored or having a short attention span is not an excuse for insulting them - even if the tune probably went over their heads.

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After Matthew Hatton's win, there was not such a successful start for team Mayweather. Wes Ferguson, one of their young prospects from Flint, Michigan, was brutally knocked out in the sixth round by Edner Cherry from the Bahamas. Ferguson was put down by a left hook early in the round and then, just as it seemed that Cherry had punched himself out, another brutal left hook poleaxed him just after the ten-second warning. It was a repeat win for Cherry, who had beaten Ferguson on points in June.

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There was a small crowd of British journalists crowded around a computer screen in the media centre to watch Wayne Elcock's unsuccessful challenge for Arthur Abraham's IBF middleweight title down an internet stream from Basel, Switzerland. Unfortunately, one journalist, who will remain Elcock, didn't know which won Elcock was and got very excited when Abraham scored a second-round knockdown. "Great," he said, before it was pointed out that we were cheering on the other guy.

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Fight night at the MGM Grand is always exciting, although you can feel rather vulnerable making the long walk from the hotl lifts, through the casino and down the Studio Walk (a crowded walkway of restaurants and shops) to the Garden Arena while wearing a much sought-after credential. When I was here for De La Hoya-Mayweather, two people stopped me and offered to buy it, one just said he "wanted to see it". Usually the walk takes around ten minutes, on fight night, despite the crowds, you walk very briskly,