Ricky Hatton made a brave stand in his challenge for the World Boxing Council (WBC) and Ring magazine welterweight championships this morning at the MGM Grand Garden Arena but the disparity in class became blatantly apparent and the supreme ring intelligence of Floyd Mayweather, simply and brutally, was too much to overcome.

In the 10th round, after Hatton had been subjected to a painfully frustrating night’s work, Mayweather landed a left hook that knocked Hatton to the floor. He rose, groggily, but Mayweather’s follow-up assault forced referee Joe Cortez to intervene 35 seconds into the round, just as Hatton fell to the canvas again.

It was a sad end to an electrifying, energising week in which an estimated 20,000-plus travelling supporters from Britain took over the famous Las Vegas trip, convinced that their man could triumph over the 30-year-old Las Vegas resident, regarded as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world. But he has not acquired this reputation for nothing and conquering Mayweather proved far beyond the reach of the Mancunian, who allowed the highly charged atmosphere to get the better of him. He was not “the bull in a china shop” that Mayweather had predicted, not immediately in any case, but his tactics were flawed, playing into the American’s capable hands.

From early in the fight, he got picked off by Mayweather’s precise and damaging punches and his aggression and smothering effort was largely ineffective after the first couple of rounds. Hatton did enjoy some success, such as the left hook he landed on Mayweather’s chin in the opening round, which staggered the American, but such blows were sporadic and, by the time of the stoppage, Mayweather was ahead on the judges’ scorecards by margins of 89-81 twice and 88-82, reflecting the champion’s clear superiority.

“He was better and more clever on the inside than I thought he was, especially with the way he used his elbows, forearms and his shoulders,” Hatton said. “I feel all right and I felt really big and strong in the fight but I left myself open. I felt all right until he got me with the cut [in the third round]. I thought I was doing well and was in the fight but I didn’t stick to my gameplan. I don’t think he’s the hardest puncher but he was more clever. Sorry everybody but I’ll be back, don’t worry.”

Hatton did not need to apologise, for the unchallengeable truth is that he encountered a better man, a boxer who has won 39 successive bouts against the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales, stopping 25. David Beckham and Tom Jones, who sang the national anthem, led a host of stars at ringside, including Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Tiger Woods, Lennox Lewis, Sugar Ray Leonard and Will Farrell, but the undisputed star of the show was Mayweather.

From the moment he caught Hatton with a left hook as he came in early in the opening round, it was clear that he had Hatton’s measure. The Mancunian did respond with that left hook of his own and he moved forward constantly, cutting off the ring in an attempt to corner Mayweather and wade into him up close where he thought that he would be able to unload on the champion’s head and torso. But Mayweather was too good on the inside, too, blocking the majority of Hatton’s blows and landing damaging punches of his own.

There had been much discussion about the state of Mayweather’s hands but he landed a hard right hand in the second round that stopped Hatton in his tracks. He also inflicted a cut over Hatton’s right eye in the third and Hatton’s cutsman, Mick Williamson, did well to staunch the flow of blood between rounds.

Mayweather took a breather in the fifth round, which Hatton won, but even then the challenger did not enjoy the kind of success up close that he had assumed he would, if he was able to work his way inside. Then, controversially, in the sixth the referee deducted a point from Hatton’s total, apparently for aiming a rabbit punch at the back of Mayweather’s head but it was Mayweather who had turned his back on his foe and the sanction seemed harsh.

It clearly got to Hatton, who demonstrated his disgust with the decision by turning around himself and presenting his backside to Mayweather in a disdainful riposte. Crucially, he lost his cool and Mayweather cranked up his performance to another level, attacking Hatton’s body and hurting him with several shots around his sides. “I saw that Juan Urango had hurt him to the body, so I knew what to do,” a largely unmarked Mayweather said afterwards.

Devastatingly, he opened up on Hatton with impunity in the eighth round, causing the challenger’s legs to buckle with a big right cross to the chin and punishing him further with hard combinations towards the end of the round. Hatton did well just to stay on his feet. But he was sickened some more in the ninth as Mayweather continued to land hard and fast with both hands and the finish was clinical. With Hatton leaving himself wide open to be countered as he waded in, Mayweather slipped to the side and threw a picture-perfect left hook at the start of the 10th, the way that Sugar Ray Robinson threw his to knock out Gene Fullmer to regain the world middleweight title 50 years ago.

The punch caught Hatton on the point of his jaw and he went down on his back, rising unsteadily as Cortez completed the mandatory eight-count. Ruthlessly, Mayweather moved in for the finish and he landed two left hooks and a right hand to the chin, missing with a left as the referee waved it over while Hatton teetered over and landed on his back again from the delayed effects of Mayweather’s final onslaught.

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