The bruises didn't lie. Ricky Hatton had turned into Rocky Hatton again, neglecting the fineries of the noble art to give himself a hard night; in the open air the blue moon had been blocked out by the red mist. With 57,000 present at the City of Manchester Stadium - a postwar British record - it was a great day for boxing, but the question must be asked whether Hatton's greatest days are behind him.

Juan Lazcano was always going to provide stern resistance but was picked as an opponent because he was closing in on retirement. He lost by a conclusive unanimous decision - by scores of 120-110, 118-110 and 120-108 - but exposed plenty of frailties in Hatton and left some freakish looking lumps on his face. The last time Hatton looked this bad after a bout was the last time he had boxed in Manchester nearly three years ago, when he first became a world champion by beating Kostya Tszyu.

“I never make things easy for myself,” he said. But behind the bumps, the most alarming thing was that Hatton's punch resistance seemed to be waning.

Twice, in the eighth and tenth rounds, Lazcano rocked him to his boots, Hatton being forced to grope around like a drunk as he tried to hold on. At times, he also appeared to completely neglect his defence and seemed wide open to Lazcano's left hook.

What he did show was 12 rounds of non-stop aggression and ferocity. Lazcano took every blow, kept trying with admirable courage and contributed to a thriller. A bout in mid-November against Paulie Malignaggi, who holds the IBF light-welterweight title that Hatton first won against Tszyu, in Las Vegas or New York is next on the agenda for the Mancunian.

Malignaggi, who retained his title with a messy split points decision against Lovemore N'Dou on the bill, boxed below his best but is a slick operator and Hatton will have to raise his game to beat him. Afterwards, Hatton, 29, who retained his IBO light-welterweight title, kept repeating a mantra: “The hardest one is out of the way.” Returning to the ring six months after his first career loss, a knockout by Floyd Mayweather Jr, Hatton admitted that he had been racked by nerves and self-doubt.

Making a return in such a high-profile event could not have helped either, neither could the lengthy preliminaries that included Russell Watson singing Land of Hope and Glory and Hatton making most of his ring walk in a fat suit. Hatton might be a cheekie chappie, but he is a boxer, not a clown.

“Beforehand I was very, very nervous,” he said. “The training camp went as well as ever and everything was absolutely perfect, but you can't prepare for the way you feel the first time you get back in the ring after getting beat.

“Anybody who has done a bit of boxing and had the misfortune to get knocked out will tell you the first one back is probably your hardest. I expect my performances to go from strength to strength from here. The hardest one is out the way now.”

In the early stages, Hatton looked brilliant, working behind his left jabs, looking light on his feet, moving in and out of range and varying his punches, rather than concentrating on the rough-house tactics that have dominated his recent performances. But when he loaded up his attempts to force a stoppage, he was wide open to Lazcano's punches.

“When I felt I had him in trouble, I put my foot on the gas and tried to finish the fight and it sometimes landed me in trouble,” he said. “Billy [Graham] was telling me as the fight was going on; ‘Don't take any chances. You're boxing well and you're a long way ahead'.

“I was smart at times, but you've got to understand, I always do go for the knockout. It has landed me in trouble in the past and it will land me in trouble again. I think that is what people love about me.” It is not what Graham loves about him, though. “I was worried a few times, Ricky was rocked to his boots and hurt a couple of times,” the trainer said.

“As a trainer I always want to go for knockouts, but when he boxes smart he hurts the people more and then he goes crazy again. I'm sick to death of him, he is making me ill.” Like so many times before, grit and determination saw Hatton through, as Lazcano spent the last two rounds trying to survive.

While the Malignaggi bout has been agreed, around every corner seems mention of a rematch with Mayweather. But, on the evidence of Saturday evening, a rematch with a puncher as accurate Mayweather seems a frightening prospect. Mayweather faces Oscar De La Hoya next, who was ringside and whose Golden Boy company has signed Hatton to a three-bout contract. “When you look at what Ricky Hatton accomplished of filling up an arena with 57,000 people no other fighter can do that,” De La Hoya said. “The pressure was on and Ricky demonstrated so many things tonight it shows you he can still be champion for many years to come. Styles make fights and Ricky against Malignaggi would be a great fight.”

Defeat was probably the end of the road for Lazcano, 33, who has invested his ring earnings well by buying a gym and a barbecue ribs restaurant in Sacramento, California. He was full of praise for Hatton. “He took a tough fight after losing to Mayweather and it was an honour to fight him,” Lazcano said. “I lost to a great fighter.”

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