Thousands of British fans who had hoped to travel to the United States to watch Ricky Hatton in the biggest bout of his career face disappointment after tickets for his contest against Floyd Mayweather Jr were hugely oversubscribed.

More than 33,000 applications have been received for the 3,900 tickets that have been allocated to Hatton’s supporters for the bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on December 8.

Others will go on general sale on Monday, but with capacity believed to have been set at 15,150 and many tickets held back by the MGM Grand and the promoters for guests, as well as for Mayweather’s allocation, the ones that are made available for general sale are likely to be sold in minutes.

“It has not been a case of a sack of mail arriving every day, it has been a case of a van full of sacks arriving every day,” Michael Meadowcroft, the events co-ordinator for Punch Promotions, Hatton’s company, said. “We were hoping to get more tickets but it soon became clear that, no matter how many we had, there would not be enough.”

Hatton’s past three bouts have been in the US and about 8,000 British fans were believed to have travelled to Las Vegas for his most recent contest, against José Luis Castillo in June, but many more are likely to be in the city as he challenges Mayweather for the WBC welterweight title.

Mayweather, who has won world titles in five weight divisions, is widely regarded as the world’s best pound-for-pound boxer, while Hatton is a two-weight world champion. The pair have a combined win-loss record of 81-0.

Ray Hatton, Ricky’s father and business manager, thinks that many fans will travel to Las Vegas with no guarantee of seeing the bout. “We believe that already 14,000 people have booked flights and accommodation before they have got tickets,” he said. “Already one 6,000-seater arena has been booked to show the fight on closed-circuit television in Las Vegas and there might be more.”

The bout has caused great excitement on both sides of the Atlantic and, after Hatton starts the Lotto draw on UK television on Saturday night, he will fly to the US to start a five-day, five-city media tour with Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya, whose company, Golden Boy, will promote the contest.

The first stop is Universal Studios in Hollywood on Monday, followed by a press conference at Mayweather’s old school, Ottawa Hills High in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the next day. The American leg of the tour finishes on Wednesday at the Rockefeller Plaza in New York before the boxers fly to Britain for press conferences at the O2 arena in East London on Thursday and Manchester Town Hall on Friday.

De La Hoya and Mayweather undertook an 11-city promotional tour before their bout in May, which Mayweather won, the success of which boosted pay-per-view sales to such an extent that it became the richest bout in history.

Hatton’s team are hoping that thousands turn out in Albert Square, outside the town hall, to give Mayweather a Manchester welcome he will remember. Posters with Hatton in Lord Kitchener pose, declaring “Hitman Wants You For Hatton Army”, have been stuck up around the city to help with recruitment. “It will be interesting going to Mayweather’s school, but we want him to remember his trip to Manchester,” Hatton’s father said.

Mayweather’s habit of throwing money into crowds had unfortunate consequences at a concert given by 50 Cent, the rapper and a close friend of the boxer, in Las Vegas at the weekend.

Mayweather has been known to throw large piles of notes into the air at nightclubs and enjoy watching people scramble for it. During 50 Cent’s poolside concert at the Hard Rock Casino, Mayweather went on stage and began throwing money into the crowd and the pool. Fans started diving into the water, but then began trying to pull on the stage.

The rapper called an early end to his performance amid fears that the stage, complete with high-voltage lighting, would topple into the pool.

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