Fists of fury from crowd-pleaser Hatton but how long can he dodge cannons?

Ricky Hatton remains the most marketable face in boxing but that face is becoming more bruised and battered with every fight. The phenomenal pulling power which lured more than 57,000 followers to the City of Manchester Stadium on Saturday night is now the Hitman's most seductive enemy.

As even the Golden Boy himself admits, no other pugilist on the planet draws crowds of such magnitude. Oscar De La Hoya has a promotional piece of the pale-faced warrior, whose Mancunian tribe will follow him to the ends of the earth, never mind just across the Atlantic for his next dust-up.

The tills will be tinkling merrily in New York or Las Vegas come November as Hatton runs face first into another of the world's light-welterweight champions, American odd-ball Paulie Malignaggi, who had a bad hair day - literally as well as metaphorically - on the undercard bout which set up their unification battle.

It is that heroic style which makes the little man such big box office but it is in the massive returns on his valour that the danger lurks. Everyone is excited to watch Hatton - Mike Tyson, Wayne Rooney and the rest of the celebrities at this ringside included.

Yet, every light-welter brigade charge into the cannons multiplies the risk that he will be cut down in the end. The multi-national corporation of boxing needs Hatton, and our Ricky is not exactly averse to the fortunes on offer, but the time is fast approaching when he must balance yet more cash in the bank against his health and his legacy.

It was not only the round bells ringing as the next U.S. pay-day teetered on the brink of collapse on Hatton's home turf. Both the Hitman and Malignaggi, the so-called Magic Man, flirted with disaster.

Perversely, while in the process of administering such a 12-round beating to Juan Lazcano that I gave the Mexican only one round and a share of another, Hatton was twice on the brink of being floored.

'I was very nervous but this is the hardest one out of the way,' he said, referring to the psychological mountain all boxers have to ascend when climbing back through the ropes after their first defeat.

Right on target: Hatton lands a powerful punch on his Mexican opponent

Yet, on the evidence of the way Hatton wobbled like a drunk in his local pub when caught with solid left hooks in the eighth and 10th, something deep inside may have broken when he was knocked out by Floyd Mayweather Jnr.

Either that or our fears are beginning to be realised that his boozing, binge-eating lifestyle must eventually corrode the iron core of his physical being. What makes those sudden blurrings of his senses all the more alarming is that the man who shook him to the soles of his boots is a veteran not renowned as a one-hit puncher.

The stoppage wins on Lazcano's record are attributable mostly to the cumulative effect of the snappy combinations which he still manages to put together spasmodically. Not only that, but the man whose ring pseudonym is The Chosen was indeed hand-picked as the opponent for Hatton's post-trauma return.

Lazcano came out of virtual retirement, not having boxed in the one year and three months since his last defeat. He turned out to be not so much a fall-guy as a punchbag, albeit a punchbag who occasionally punched back.

He also took everything the Hitman could throw at him which, while a testament to his typically Mexican courage, also raised the nagging question of whether Hatton's power might be on the wane.

Despite boxing quite brilliantly in spasms, he could not put Lazcano away. Trainer Billy Graham harangued him for not easing his way back into the groove by boxing his way to an inevitable, risk-free, overwhelming points victory but Hatton said: 'When I get a man hurt I can't stop myself going for the knock-out. It gets me into trouble but that's why all these people love me.'

So it is, and they will swarm across the Atlantic again in November. They can buy their tickets in the reasonable expectation that Malignaggi, another light hitter, will not be Hatton's fight too far.

Having entered the ring wearing a lurid mask, the brash American unveiled hair extensions so long that they kept coming loose from their ties and his corner-man had to give him a hair-cut after the eighth as frantic as his hyperactive boxing style.

Amid all that nonsense, he broke for the sixth time a right hand which has already required three operations, and came closer to losing his title rematch with South Africa's Lovemore N'Dou than the scorecards suggested.

Most of the love in Manchester was poured over Hatton but he must not let it affect his judgment as it does the way he fights.

A second shot at Mayweather before 100,000 fans at Wembley next spring may seem like a dream, but the way the Hitman was staggered by a significantly lesser foe it could turn into an unconscious nightmare.