What's next is boxing intrigue

Boxing fans are on edge these days, not unlike your 6-year-old in the back seat on a long trip.

"How many more miles, Daddy? Are we there yet?"

Actually, we are four days from Oscar De La Hoya versus Manny Pacquiao and several years from knowing how the sport will weather the immediate future against the competitive onslaught of mixed martial arts.

De La Hoya-Pacquiao will be a good gauge. It is an honest-to-goodness megafight, which means we can expect the buildup noise to be worth the drain on our eardrums. If pay-per-view purchases exceed 1.5 million, in an economy where the sale of 1.5 million of anything is remarkable, then boxing will have a good measuring stick.

That immediate future, like the 6-year-old in the back seat, may be many miles away.

Try London or Dubai.

If De La Hoya wins, get ready for De La Hoya versus England's Ricky Hatton in London's Wembley Stadium.

If Pacquiao wins, get ready for Pacquiao versus Hatton in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.

When they announce the outcome of Saturday night's fight at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, no matter whose name is called, the winner will be Hatton. "I guess we might all be finding ourselves in Hatton Wonderland pretty soon," said Richard Schaefer, chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions and partner of the company president, De La Hoya.

There had been talk of De La Hoya retiring after Saturday's fight, but that seems increasingly unlikely, especially if he wins. So when Schaefer waxes eloquently over the quality and quantity of Hatton fans and says things such as, "Oscar and Hatton in Wembley Stadium, 100,000 fans, maybe break an attendance record -- now that would be a mega event," you know it's more than daydreaming.

Bob Arum, another huge player in the sport and Pacquiao's promoter at Top Rank, sees the next big thing differently.

"You can't do Wembley," he said. "That makes absolutely no sense.

"I just got back from Dubai. It's like Fantasyland. Huge, new, spectacular buildings everywhere.

"Think of Pacquiao-Hatton. There is a large Filipino population in Dubai, and the biggest tourism comes from England. Because I'm Pacquiao's promoter, I got recognized as much there as Michael Jordan would in the States."

So, apparently, what happens in Las Vegas won't be staying there after Saturday.

Boxing's dominoes could start falling as fast as the boxers.