Cotto is highly rated

Cotto claimed the WBO junior welterweight title with a sixth-round stoppage of Kelson Pinto and now has Hatton in his sights.

Hatton is the mandatory challenger and promoter Bob Arum wants to see the pair in the ring: "We'd love to set up a fight with Hatton.

"We'd love to come to the belly of the beast and take on Hatton in front of his army of fans in Britain," he said.

Hatton is due to defend his lesser-regarded WBU belt against America's Mike Stewart on 1 October.

A 37th successive win would more than likely lead to a bout against the winner of Kostya Tszyu and Sharmba Mitchell.

Ricky wants the big names Promoter Frank Warren

"Whatever the result is, they are considered to be the two best guys in the world. Cotto is the new kid on the block," said Frank Warren, Hatton's promoter.

"Ricky will fight anybody. Ricky is not the problem. As we've always said, it's just a question of making the right moves at the right time.

"He's the guy who has got to do the fighting so we'll sit down and talk about where he wants to go. There are two ways for us to go and Ricky will make the decision.

"Ideally, I'd like to see him fight Tszyu because I think Ricky would beat him, then maybe fight Cotto for all the titles in what would be a mega-fight."