(AP Photo/PA, Nick Potts)

By Murali Para

29.09 - Last night saw the latest episode of the Ricky Hatton story in front of a crowd of 15,000 in the MEN Arena in Manchester who gave him a hero's welcome. Unfortunately, it was a short-lived, ugly affair that ended in controversy. In the 2nd round, the challenger's father and trainer, Darkie Smith, entered the ring and shoved the referee after what he perceived as illegal tactics on the part of Hatton. Inevitably, the contest was declared a Disqualification win for the WBU light-welterweight champion, Ricky 'the Hitman' Hatton who improved to 30-0 (23) while the overmatched challenger, 'Stunning' Stephen Smith went 31-2 (17). A decision has yet to be made regarding the challenger's purse, not to mention his father's licence to train.

The end to the fight was all the more disappointing as it was in no way attributable to anything Hatton might have done wrong, whatever Darkie Smith may have thought or claimed to think. From the opening seconds of the contest, Hatton was catching Smith with a beautiful range of shots that were hard and accurate: right uppercuts and body shots, left uppercuts and hooks and finally, a big right hand that dropped the challenger for an 8 count. The pained, frightened expression on Smith's face said it all - he looked like a terrified animal, only too well aware of its impending slaughter. Many of those at ringside believed it was after Darkie Smith witnessed this 1st round that he was looking for a way to get his son out of there. That may well have been true.

After the short fight, numerous replays showed that there was nothing untoward and certainly nothing deliberate on the part of Hatton whatsoever. He threw a right hand that Smith ducked instinctively and as both boxers moved towards each other, Smith's face came into contact with the elbow of Hatton's right arm. It looked like it hurt Smith - and it certainly opened a cut - but Smith was already wearing an expression of acute distress and almost certainly knew that the fight would not go into a 3rd round. As for pre-fight claims that Smith was "the best light-welterweight in Europe", this was an empty boast, to put it mildly, as Smith looked more like a
blown-up lightweight.

Hatton declared that he was "mortified" after the fight was stopped, and not without good reason. He was looking very impressive. Almost immediately, it was apparent that the defensive flaws exposed by Eamonn Magee in his last fight seemed to have received some attention in the interim, as Hatton was showing some deft head movement to slip punches. And of course, his trademark devastating body attack was as effective as always, as he alternated it with hooks and uppercuts to the head. Magee's southpaw stance gave Hatton some problems in June, but Smith, also a southpaw, was thoroughly unable to do so. Hopefully, this is an indication of Hatton's progress as much as Smith's lack of world-class.

The only hope I have for Ricky Hatton is that he manages to fulfil his considerable potential in due course - probably over the next 5 years. His talent is undeniable and he is learning fast. The light-welterweight division, headed by undisputed champ, Kostya Tszyu, is probably more steeped in
high-calibre operators than any other with Ward, Gatti, Judah, Hurtado, Corley and many others. I hope Hatton manages to fight some of these fine light-welterweights, not only so that he stands a
chance of winning the traditional belts - rather than his current, spurious WBU title - but so that the fans will see the exciting contests that Ricky Hatton is capable of putting on for us. An improved Junior Witter is the only British fighter I want to see Ricky face. Beyond that, he should pursue the cream of the crop. While he is indeed young, Hatton cuts easily and he struggles to make the weight. So it makes sense for him to gather momentum and continue his assault on the higher echelons of the division sooner rather than later.