Can cuts king Mick work his magic again for Hatton?

Hatton will be cheered on by at least 3,500 Britons with tickets for the big fight, but the support Hatton needs most of all will be provided by Mick Williamson, the cuts man charged with keeping Hatton's face intact against the world's best fighter.

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Williamson is widely credited with providing the best emergency repairs in boxing and Hatton, who has always been susceptible to cuts, says he would not be unbeaten without him.

'Coming into this fight, which is the pinnacle, against the best fighter in any weight division, I put a lot down to Mick getting me to this point,' said Hatton. 'Maybe I would have got here anyway but it's unlikely. Mick's as big a reason as any in my camp why I've got this far.

'For this fight, the way Floyd throws those slashing right hands, Mick could be the most important person in my corner again.'

Hatton estimates he has had 100 stitches in his 43-fight career. But he has been relatively untroubled since Williamson worked his magic on two wounds that threatened to cost him victory over Carlos Maussa in 2005.

The 62-year-old cabbie — known variously as 'Mick the Knife' and 'The Rub' — is modest about his contribution to Hatton's success. He says: 'People have said that I've saved Ricky here and there throughout his career — but it is still Ricky who has gone out and won the fight, not me.

'You do have to expect the worst with Ricky because he is so aggressive going forward and, at the level he fights, it might always happen.'

As for what Williamson will earn out of the millions changing hands in Las Vegas, he says: 'If they pay me enough money, I'll stop driving taxis!'

Hatton's trainer Billy Graham said: 'Mick Williamson is a great cuts man. I've got great faith in him. Ricky is really calm when he gets cut; he handles it really well. I just hope the referee is equally calm.'

Hatton's four bloodiest fights

GILBERT QUIROS - June 10, 2000

Hatton suffers a nasty cut above his left eye in the first round but knocks the Costa Rican out in the second to retain WBO Inter-Continental light-welterweight title.

JON THAXTON - October 21, 2000

British light-welterweight title at stake in one of his bloodiest fights to date. Thaxton opens a cut on Hatton's left eyebrow after just 15 seconds, but loses a points decision.

TONY PEP - March 26, 2001

Pep cuts Hatton above his left eye in the second round of their WBU light-welterweight title fight, but the Hitman knocks him down twice before a fourth round KO.

CARLOS MAUSSA - November 26, 2005 Hatton is cut above his left eye following a clash of heads in the first round and suffers another cut in the third, but knocks the Colombian out in the ninth round of this unification fight.

PS - Just be careful with those hands, Floyd

If Ricky Hatton's susceptibility to cuts is his weakness, Floyd Mayweather has been dogged for several years by injuries to his hands.

The problem first became apparent in a fight against Carlos Hernandez in 2001, when Mayweather threw a left hook which he found so painful to deliver that he fell to his knees, taking a count from the referee.

Since then he has had regular treatment on the injuries using wax paraffin. His hands were cited as one of the main reasons for his decision to retire after beating Oscar De La Hoya this year — with many at ringside feeling Mayweather held back from looking for a knockout.

The fighter's physiotherapist claimed he should no longer be boxing and there were even fears last week that the Hatton fight was in jeopardy, until Mayweather said: 'My hands are great and there will be no excuses.'