Boxing: No smiles for Magee as Hatton fights back

Eamonn Magee will rue the moment that he smiled instead of moving in to finish off Ricky Hatton in the first round at the MEN arena on Saturday night.

Hatton fell heavily from a short right hook as Magee stunned the crowd of 18,000 into silence but the eccentric Ulsterman lost valuable seconds by grinning. Hatton admitted after the fight that he was hurt.

In round two of a truly memorable encounter, Hatton was once again caught by the same punch, though this time he managed to stay on his feet. However, for 30 seconds his unbeaten sequence of 23 fights looked like it was over and with it his hold of the World Boxing Union light-welterweight title.

It was not a night for the faint-hearted and in round after round Hatton and Magee often fought with a degree of intensity that has been lacking in a British ring since Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn retired. When it was over and the pair embraced to end a pre-fight week of verbal animosities, Hatton was a clear but tight winner and Magee respectfully acknowledged the young Mancunian boxer.

In addition to the moment in round one when Magee lost a valuable second, which in a prize fight can be a lifetime, there were rounds in the middle of the bout when the gently-spoken fighter stood against the ropes for too long. Had Magee kept mobile, instead of some bizarre attempt to let Hatton wear himself out, the decision would have surely been closer.

When the final bell sounded, Magee just shrugged. Later, he acknowledged that the fight was his to win. He said: "It's no good moaning after the event but I'm not stupid and I realise what I did wrong and my mistakes cost me the title.''

* Evander Holyfield claimed a technical split decision over Hasim Rahman in a heavyweight non-title bout in Atlantic City on Saturday. The referee stopped the fight in the eighth round after a haematoma the size of an baseball, apparently caused by an accidental head butt, appeared above Rahman's left eye.