Plenty has changed even since the Dubliner was most recently in the desert, a chastening night 15 months back when he was sent scurrying across the sands by Khabib Nurmagomedov, writes Joe Callaghan.

Perhaps the feline fittings were there to provide some home comfort for the man from Tiger’s Bay. True to much of the style of this city — the world capital of excess — it all looked a little much though.

WOW. It’s a small word with a big impact, and one used unsparingly in Vegas.

Manchester’s light-welterweight king Ricky Hatton faces Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Casino in the early hours of tomorrow morning in the first super-fight of 2009. But has the economic downturn impacted on the appetite for big time boxing Stateside? Simon Lewis reports from Nevada.

Paula Abdul is in trouble again, after the American Idol judge sneaked past security at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas.