LAS VEGAS - When the MGM Grand hierarchy started putting together their "to-do list" for Saturday night's Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton fight, they already knew the first item on the agenda.

Order more beer.

The powers that be at one of The Strip’s most iconic casinos know how to react to changing circumstances, and most pressing issue once this Saturday’s bout was announced was to avoid a repeat of the only time in history that it ran out of brewer’s fuel.

Hatton’s fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in December 2007 brought a remarkable invasion of boisterous Brits, thousands of whom used the MGM as a base to turn chugging into an Olympic sport and to scream themselves hoarse for the Hitman.

“It was the first and only occasion that we didn’t have any beer left,” said Richard Sturm, president of sports and entertainment for MGM Mirage. “They simply drunk us dry. We had never seen anything like it.”

These are tough times on The Strip, with a nation’s supply of spare cash to blow on rum and roulette dwindling rapidly as economic factors continue to pinch at pocketbooks.

Hatton though, comes with a stimulus package secreted behind that cheeky smile and those murderous fists and as far as the MGM is concerned, he can come and fight whenever he likes.

The arrival of 15,000 exuberant visitors from across the Atlantic provides a unique and slightly surreal boost to the MGM, with the fight to be held in its Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night.

“One-time events like this are very special for us,” said Sturm. “And Ricky Hatton and his fans bring something completely different to Las Vegas.

“They have so much fun, they are up all night singing and they add a lot of color to a place that is already pretty colourful.”

Thousands of Brits, many from Hatton’s hometown of Manchester, have already touched down in Sin City, with more expected to arrive closer to fight night.

A vast Filipino contingent is also on its way to support on Pacquiao, the biggest celebrity in his nation.

The doom-mongers like to predict woe for this town that rides its luck in a bad economy just as much as the punters who sit at its gaming tables.

Likewise, boxing has been earmarked for demise by those convinced that mixed martial arts is the combat sport of the future.

But if Vegas, or boxing, are on their last legs, it sure doesn’t feel like it this week.