If you could only press the mute button, Ricky Hatton would be exactly what a boxing nation is looking for.The 140-pound world champion is the sort of fighter who would come forward on anything smaller or slower than a moving freight train. Out of the ring, he exudes a charm that's equal parts blue collar and Pabst Blue Ribbon -- or the British equivalent -- and probably hasn't had to gone a night in the pub without someone buying him a pint since his grew taller than a bar stool.
There are giveaways, of course, like his pale skin that makes the Elgin marbles look like they're stored in a tanning both, and the baby blue Manchester City Football Club gear that he wears, suggests not so subtly that he isn't from around these parts.
But all in all, he's a pretty fair facsimile of what star looks like in the land of Rocky rather than royalty.
He is Ricky Hatton. American Idol.
At least, until he opens his mouth and his pronounced Mancunian accent pours a bottle of pain thinner all over that portrait.
