Hatton and Mayweather Start Name-calling

Floyd Mayweather began the soap opera surrounding his WBC welterweight bout with Ricky Hatton by calling his opponent "Vicky Fatton".

The two undefeated boxers will square up in Las Vegas on December 8, but will come face-to-face regularly before the fight because they are touring five cities together to promote their clash. In the space of a week, Mayweather and Hatton will visit Hollywood, Grand Rapids, New York, London and Manchester to make sure they get maximum exposure.

They both tried to hog the limelight at the first event, held at Universal Studios in Hollywood. Hatton arrived at the press conference wearing a golden crown, which Mayweather snatched to pose for photographers. Hatton said: "I am glad he took it, because it looks more like Burger King than like a champion."

Not surprisingly, Hatton took a dig at Mayweather's recent appearance on the American TV series Dancing With The Stars. He said: "He is doing the show Dancing with the Stars and I think that's how he is boxing. Floyd always backs up. That's the woman part."

And Mayweather responded by calling Hatton "a girl", saying he is "too small" and then taunted him with the name "Vicky Fatton".

Hatton insists the week-long war of words won't affect his performance when they finally step into the ring.