By Ben Dirs

I don't want to be known as a fighter who just fought in his own back yard Ricky Hatton

Ricky Hatton is confident of wowing America when he challenges WBA welterweight champion Luis Collazo at Boston Garden on Saturday.

Hatton tops the bill against Collazo in the first bout of his three-fight deal with US television network HBO.

"I fight like an American, or even a Mexican, so I should be up their street," Hatton, 27, told BBC Sport.

"The British public have taken me to their hearts and I'm hoping the Americans will do the same."

Manchester's Hatton, who arrived in Boston on Saturday, is already a hit with America's boxing writers, who last week voted him their fighter of the year.

In addition, Ring magazine named him fighter of the year for 2005 after he claimed the IBF and WBA light welterweight belts with wins over Kostya Tszyu and Carlos Maussa respectively.

Hatton urges fans to be patient

And Hatton, the only Brit to have won the Ring award, is further motivated by the fact that so few Brits have broken into the American market before him.

"We've had a lot of good world champions who have defended titles in Britain, but there's only a handful who have become successful in the States," said Hatton, who has now relinquished his light welterweight belts.

"I don't want to be known as a fighter who, although he beat some good names and won a world title, just fought in his own back yard.

Frank Bruno always had huge support in America

"I want to be an exception to the rule and you can imagine what it means to a British fighter to be topping the bill in the States and fighting live on HBO."

HBO's plan is for Hatton to fight former two-weight world champion Arturo Gatti next before a superfight with pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather.

And Hatton hopes a few thousand of his loyal fans will be at Boston Garden on Saturday as he sets out on the road to world domination.

"British fighters have gone over in the past, like Frank Bruno, Lennox Lewis and Naseem Hamed, and always had great support," said Hatton, who is unbeaten in 40 fights.

"There's no fans more loyal than mine. I'll be expecting plenty of Man City shirts in the crowd and hopefully a few of the Americans have been practising (Hatton's entrance song) Blue Moon."

Meanwhile, Hatton said he has felt comfortable at his new weight in training and is confident he will carry his power and speed up to 147lbs.

"Only time will tell whether I'm more suited to welterweight or light welterweight, but I'm more explosive in the gym and I feel quicker," said Hatton.

"My diet is a lot better but my weight training has become more extreme, because you don't just want to be a big light welterweight, you want to be a big welterweight."