Maussa falls and America beckons for bloodied but unbowed Hatton

RICKY HATTON’S dream of emulating his sport’s trans-Atlantic greats moved closer to reality after heovercame another cuts nightmare to unify the world light-welterweight titles with a ninth-round knockout of Carlos Maussa in Sheffield.

Arguably, Hatton has never thrown a better punch than the crashing left hook which dumped the Colombian onto the canvas for the full 10 count and enabled the ‘Hitman’ to add Maussa’s WBA crown to the IBF belt he already owned.

But Hatton’s gruelling victory came at a price with blood pouring from cuts above both his eyes by the end of the second round, forcing him to skip the post-fight press conference for an all-too-familiar rendezvous with a plastic surgeon at a local hospital.