Forget, again, about the heavyweight division, which flickered back to life with David Haye's win over Nikolai Valuev; forget Ricky Hatton's ill-judged comeback, forget the 'Super Six', forget Hopkins, Pavlik, Lopez, Darchinyan.

Good, maybe great fighters all. But there is already only one fight on the agenda for 2010: a fight so big that when the months of unnecessary hype and bluster end, it will cast a giant shadow over the rest of them.

Supposedly, talks have already begun for the showdown the boxing world wants to see, pitting the mesmerising and so far unmatchable skills of Floyd Mayweather against the raw aggression of Manny Pacquiao.

It is a fight so big it will guarantee the two combatants tens of millions of dollars, dwarfing the previous best for a non-heavyweight title showdown and setting all sorts of records in the pay-per-view era.

The flexing of muscles has already started, pumped-up and fake as a Mr Universe competition, as assorted wannabe hangers-on jostle for column-inch space and try to convince the real power-brokers that they serve a purpose.

Steve Wynn, who is propping up new casinos on the Strip like the rest of us pile dollar chips on the roulette table, wants to stage the fight in a purpose-built outdoor arena on one of the city's vacant lots.

Texas and New York want in on the act. It probably goes without saying assorted Arab states do too. Wherever it is destined to take place - Las Vegas being overwhelming favourite - it's a sure-fire bet the whole world wants in.

Mayweather, a recent master of apparent reluctance, is of course hinting through those closest to him that a Pacquiao fight is no sure-fire thing given the amount of money he would expect to earn from the contest.

Others on the Filipino's side are also suggesting the fight may simply be too big to ever get done: hinting Pacquiao can pick and choose from the rest of the world's best, Shane Mosley being the possible next in line.

All of which, of course, is palpable rubbish. Simply, provided both fighters stay fit, their super-fight is bound to happen. It will be preceded by a whirlwind world tour, and end with the crowning of the undisputed champion of his generation.

Why will it happen? Because neither fighter can afford for it not to. Not to take the fight would leave indelible absences on the records of men who both purport - Mayweather much louder - to be among the greatest of all time.

For all his stunning victories over the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Hatton and Juan Manuel Marquez, Mayweather needs a conclusive victory over Pacquiao in order to put the rubber-stamp on that all-time supremacy.

For Pacquiao, the prize is similar. They both know it, just like they know all the hype and bluster and alleged uncertainty right now will help swell the super-fight coffers even further.

That is why Mayweather is pretending to drag his heels: it is also, in a roundabout way, why his estranged father made his typically preposterous comments this week about Pacquiao not being able to fight at all.

It is why Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum said this of Mayweather: "He's so tied up with the fact that nobody has beaten him, I don't know if he would be willing to get in the ring with anybody that could jeopardise that zero."

Does Arum really believe that? Not a chance. There is not a chance of Mayweather sitting back in which penthouse of his he chooses and opting for easy, protected retirement rather than getting in the ring with Pacquiao.

Mayweather has a keen sense of boxing history and he knows full well how great victory over Pacquiao would make him - a fighter genuinely capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with the Alis and the Sugar Rays.

Money will talk loudest throughout the build-up, but both would willingly give up a lot more of it to guarantee the all-time greatness that awaits the winner. That is why the fight will happen. And why all else will be swept aside.