Boxing: Trainer faces ban for life as he stops Hatton fight

Light-welterweight title winner accused of head-butting by opponent's father who attacks referee in ring as bout ends in farce

Stephen Smith was down for the second time but he knew before then that the fight was over when he felt an elbow slice his eyebrow and then the blood drip down his cheek after just 28 seconds of round two against Ricky Hatton at the MEN Arena in Manchester on Saturday night.

Smith would have been ruled out with the cut but his trainer and father, Darkie, made sure that the fight was stopped by illegally entering the ring and assaulting the referee, Mickey Vann, after just 28 seconds of round two.

Now Smith Snr, who fought as a professional and won just nine of his 42 fights in the 1960s and 70s, will receive a lengthy or even a lifetime ban for his disgraceful but understandable act of madness. After seeing the punishment his son was taking, Smith moved up the steps and then invaded the ring to complain that Hatton was butting and using his elbows.

Hatton was standing in a neutral corner watching Vann begin his count when he saw Smith's father rushing across the ring to remonstrate with the referee before pushing him back. Vann raised his hands above his head and waved him off but even then Hatton delayed his celebration.

"I had no idea what was happening and I just watched in amazement," said Hatton, who retained his World Boxing Union light-welterweight title for the seventh time. "I know one thing for sure and that is that I had absolutely no reason to have fouled him. It was a great performance and I was about to end it. Why would I foul him?"

When the security and Charlie Smith [no relation] who was also working the corner, persuaded Smith to get out of the ring it was obvious that the fight had ended in a disqualification and that means that the younger Smith will not receive his money until the British Boxing Board of Control has held a meeting. It is possible that as much as £10,000 of his £70,000 purse will be deducted.

However, Darkie Smith was unrepentant and claimed that he was unhappy with the selection of Vann, who has been in charge of eight previous Hatton fights and was involved in his 100th world title fight, but opted not to lodge an official complaint with Jon Robinson, the WBU's president who was at the ringside.

"I told Vann that I didn't want Hatton using his head and I knew that if I said anything a bit stronger we would have been up against it from the start," said Smith. "I knew it was going to be a hard fight for Stevie and I didn't want to make it any harder by having a go at Vann in the changing room before the fight."

This is not the first time that Smith has been in the corner when a fight has ended in controversy and farce because back in 1987 he tried in vain to stop his boxer Bobby Frankham from hitting the referee Richie Davies. Frankham never fought again. But Smith, who at the time was a fledgling professional trainer, went on to achieve a degree of fame for his work with Chris Eubank and then Croatia's Zeljko Mavrovic, who in 1998 lost on points to Lennox Lewis.

However, his career has been blighted by confrontations which are not uncommon in the boxing business but Darkie, as he is known, having dropped his original name of John when he was a child, has always been quick to defend his fighters and speak his mind. He is of similar temperament to the veteran American Lou Duva, who suffered a heart attack and a cut eye in separate scuffles with rival cornermen in the ring after fights.

"Vann let Hatton butt and blatantly use the elbow and I couldn't stand there and let that happen to any of my fighters. I would do the same thing again and not just because Stevie is my son," said Smith. "I'm not sure I want to be involved in boxing after what I've seen tonight."

Foreign governing bodies will uphold Smith's ban and force him to find an alternative career at 55, after a life in boxing. On Saturday night he watched his son climb up from a knockdown in round one, then drop again in agony from two rights to the stomach in round two and it was too much for Smith. Hatton's father, Ray, summed it up simply: "Darkie jumped in there to save Stevie from getting hurt. That is all that it was."