On December 8, 2007, Ricky Hatton challenged for WBC welterweight crown

The Hitman went head-to-head with Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas showdown

Hatton has opened up on the night he lost his unbeaten record to the American

It was the third man in ring - referee Joe Cortez - who would steal the headlines

He has forged a new career and memories of that night are now largely positive

For Ricky Hatton, time can heal only so much.

Ten years on from defeat by Floyd Mayweather, the humour and humility that made him one of Britain's most loved fighters remains. But so does some of the pain.

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On December 8, 2007 in Las Vegas, Hatton challenged for the WBC welterweight crown in a meeting of two undefeated world champions and a war of two worlds.

Ricky Hatton has opened up to Sportsmail about the night he lost to Floyd Mayweather in 2007

Hatton, posing for a snap at his gym, was unbeaten heading into the showdown 10 years ago

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The fight was scheduled for 12 rounds, Hatton had prepared for 15. In the end Mayweather would need only 10.

'It f****** winds me up to watch it now, honestly it does,' the Hitman cries when Sportsmail visits his gym to watch and relive the money-spinning showdown.

'I knew it was going to be the toughest fight of my life,' he remembers.

'I still to this day think I had a chance of beating him but I think they pulled the rug out from under me, I really do.'

After nine-and-a-half ferocious rounds, Hatton was stopped for the first time in his career by the former five-weight world champion.

But it was the third man in the ring — referee Joe Cortez — who would steal the headlines.

Hatton sits down with Sportsmail's Daniel Matthews to relive the money-spinning encounter

'Embarrassing,' is Hatton's verdict on the official's performance 10 years later. 'Absolutely disgusting,' snarls his then-trainer Billy Graham.

The frustration is understandable. Victory would have catapulted the Hitman to heights few, if any, British fighters have ever reached.

Instead defeat nearly cost him his life.

After 43 straight victories, Hatton struggled to cope with the setback. A burning sense of injustice at Cortez's role in the result did little to soften the blow.

A decade on, the 39-year-old looks back with 'pride' at his performance and his part in a momentous occasion.

But the flames of frustration have never truly gone out.

It was the third man in the ring — referee Joe Cortez (left) — who would steal the headlines

'Embarrassing' is Hatton's verdict on the official's performance 10 years later

Two years after capturing the IBF light-welterweight title, the Hitman's dismantling of Jose Luis Castillo in June 2007 put him firmly in the sights of the finest fighter on the planet.

'It was a perfect fight,' he says. 'I was unbeaten, he was unbeaten, he was from the United States, I was from England. He was the cocky, blingy celebrity, a red-carpet merchant, and I was — I'd like to think — the down-to-earth chap, the lad who'd go to darts, to football and have a pint. You couldn't have had two people more different.'

During a five-day, five-city press tour, Mayweather goaded Hatton with typical bravado and trash talk. The mind games were relentless, even off stage.

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'In Los Angeles, me, Billy Graham, my dad (Ray), (strength and nutrition coach) Kerry Kayes and (agent) Paul Speak were all in this restaurant having a meal and the next minute Floyd comes in with all the press,' Hatton recalls.

Hatton's dismantling of Jose Luis Castillo in June 07 put him firmly in the sights of Mayweather

Hatton speaks at Universal City in Los Angeles during a pre-fight announcement of the bout

'Floyd's chucking $100 bills all over the table and he said: "Ricky, I'll get you that, that's nothing to me". All the press are taking pictures and he thinks he's being a smart-a***.

'So I got all the $100 bills and said: "Can I have the bill, please?" The bill came and it was something like $400-$500 and there was about $1,400 there. So I said (mimics putting money on the table): "That's for you" (puts the rest in his pocket). "Cheers, d***head!" The press were all in stitches.'

The roles were cast. Not that Hatton's fanbase needed much persuasion.

By 2007 he already boasted tremendously loyal support. For the biggest fight of his career, around 30,000 fans would descend on the Nevada desert.

The British were coming.

Hatton poses for photos as he arrives at a news conference at the MGM Grand Hotel in 2007

The two boxers are separated after a face off during their official weigh-in at the MGM

The Daily Mail's back page on Dec 10, 2007

In the days before the first bell, the Hitman's faithful drunk Vegas dry, sung themselves hoarse and turned The Strip sky blue.

'Ricky Hatton's fights weren't fights, they were events,' legendary MC Michael Buffer recalls.

'Thousands of fans came knowing they couldn't see the fight... they just wanted to be on the same part of the planet as their fighter.'

Come Saturday night, official records put the British contingent inside the MGM Grand at 4,000. Estimates suggest there was closer to three times that number.

'You can see me here,' Hatton says as he makes his way to the ring on screen. 'I'm not nervous, I'm just as keen as I've always been.'

The atmosphere was electric for the meeting of two champions, unbeaten in a combined 81 professional fights. But in the heat of battle, was he really able to take it all in?

Hatton had huge following during his career - here he is being greeted during build-up to fight

Three Hatton fans show their support for the British favourite prior to his Mayweather defeat

'Oh yeah,' the Hitman claims. 'I used to thrive off the fans. They used to be like my second man. I think the fans for the Kostya Tszyu fight pulled me through.'

Two years on, they tried to do the same. But very quickly it became clear that Hatton's 'worst nightmare' had become reality.

'From as early as the first two rounds, I thought "something isn't right here",' he recalls.

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The plan was to get on Mayweather's chest, rough him up and outwork him on the inside. Unfortunately, Cortez refused to let him.

'Up close, when I was able to punch, it was working. And that's the thing that will always upset me,' Hatton remembers.

'I'm not saying I would have won anyway. But I think if I did have that half chance of beating him, the referee put a stop to that.'

In the days before the first bell, the Hitman's faithful drunk Vegas dry in support of their icon

Fans of Hatton cheer him on before his bout against Mayweather, who was also undefeated

Very quickly a pattern emerged. As Hatton marched forward, Mayweather sought to keep him off with sharp shots. When the Hitman did get within range, Cortez broke the two fighters up almost immediately.

As rounds pass by on screen, Hatton interrupts our discussion with periodical cries of 'and he's in again' as the official interferes once more.

But despite the frustration the fight was in the balance heading into round six.

Then everything changed when Hatton was deducted a point for hitting behind the head. It was then, he claims, that 'the fight was over'.

'Where do you want me to f****** hit him?' he asked Cortez after comically offering his backside as a target.

But still the chants of 'walking in a Hatton wonderland' rang out as the British fans urged their man forward.

Mayweather lands a well-timed left-handed punch on Hatton during their entertaining fight

Boxing official Cortez - who was criticised following the fight - gets in between the fighters

Minutes earlier, they had booed the US national anthem. Ten years on, Hatton can't help feeling that affected the officials.

'You have to imagine if an American fighter came over to Great Britain and (his fans) took over our weigh-in, were in our bars, drinking our beers, singing Star Spangled Banner and then booing our national anthem on fight night,' he says. 'I can't help but think if I was a British referee I'd think: "Who the f*** do these lot think they are?".'

As the rounds wore on, Mayweather began to pull away from his increasingly frustrated and desperate opponent.

As fatigue set in, the already difficult task of cornering his opponent was now nigh on impossible.

'When I was going like the clappers, (he knew) when to just take a breather, soak it up as best he could and the minute I had a bit of a flurry and I wanted a breather, he knew when to step his foot on the gas.

Cortez once again gets involved in the fight as Mayweather looks to move in on the Hitman

Cut man Mick Williamson and trainer Billy Graham work on the eye of Hatton between rounds

'That's a 12-round fighter, you have to work when your fella wants to rest and you have to rest or nick a breather when your fella wants to work. He goes, you go, and that's the thing. It's his boxing brain.'

By the end of round nine, Hatton was shattered and his corner were in crisis mode.

'I had a couple of my fighters, Matthew Macklin and Paul Smith, sneaking looks at the (judges') scorecards,' Graham says. 'They came up and told me at some point that they had him a mile behind.'

He adds: 'Ricky was there to win. So I just told him: "They have you a mile behind, you're going to have to f****** knock him out".'

But it was Mayweather who would land the decisive blow moments later.

Mayweather caught Hatton with a sharp left hook that sent his head crashing onto the canvas

He climbed to his feet but moments later, after another Mayweather flurry, it was waved off

'I always got tired in rounds eight, nine, 10, 11, 12. But I was always able to keep going, keep my composure and shape,' Hatton claims.

'But because I had to work a little bit harder than normal I ran out of steam more. Don't get me wrong, that is not just because of the referee, that's partly because of Floyd.

'A lot of the time I was hitting fresh air because he's so good defensively. So I would have probably tired a bit quicker against Floyd than anyone else. But along with all the other stuff, come the end of the fight I was just gone.'

Mayweather caught Hatton with a sharp left hook that sent his head crashing into the ring post and onto the canvas. The Manchester fighter climbed to his feet but moments later, after another Mayweather flurry, the fight was waved off.

'What a fluke that was,' Hatton joked in the post-fight interview.

Hatton lies on the canvas, unable to climb up, as referee Cortez brings an end to the showdown

Hatton is left dazed on the Vegas canvas

Mayweather screams with delight

In the challenger's dressing room minutes later, however, the mood was one of frustration and bitter disappointment.

Among the victorious Mayweather camp, too, there was little jubilation, as Kayes discovered to his astonishment.

'There must have been 30 people in (his) dressing room but it was a subdued dressing room, they were all quiet. And Mayweather wasn't there. There was a second dressing room so we walked through them all into the second room and Mayweather was sitting on his own.

'No one in the room and he had his elbows on his knees and he had a white towel over his head, it was surreal. It was almost as if he was meditating, he wasn't (but) he lifted his head and took the towel down and I was in f****** shock. There wasn't a mark on him and I remember saying to him: "Now I know why they call you Pretty Boy!"'

The two fighters traded compliments in the post-fight press conference but after a brief appearance at the after-fight party, Hatton slipped off for an early night.

A general view of Las Vegas' MGM ring as the victorious Mayweather begins his celebrations

The pair embrace following Mayweather's win - but Hatton's life would never be the same

He refused to be kept down for long, however. Within hours he was taking solace in familiar places, alongside familiar people.

'I went out on the piss the following day,' he remembers. 'I was going in bars and there were groups of 12-15 grown men on holiday together going in a bar and singing "one Ricky Hatton" and they were crying. These are grown men who have gone on a piss-up and a holiday together. I thought: "Wow that's something really, really special".'

Hatton would return to winning ways within six months, outpointing Juan Lazcano at the home of his beloved Manchester City in May 2008. But his life would never be the same.

In the years following defeat by Mayweather, the Hitman descended into a downward spiral of depression and drugs. He even attempted suicide.

'I didn't want to leave the house, I was embarrassed and it didn't matter how many people say "no, Ricky, you did us proud", I felt (it) in my own mind. That's what you're dealing with,' he recalls.

Hatton returned to winning ways within six months, outpointing Juan Lazcano in May 2008

'It eats away at you and it builds on you the more you ponder on things. It's like chopping a tree down — you don't chop it down with one chop, it's duh-duh-duh-duh and eventually it goes.'

Thankfully, those dark days are in the past.

Hatton has forged a new career as a trainer and his memories of that night in Vegas are now largely positive.

'(It's) one of the proudest moments of my career,' he claims.

'At the time I was gutted and devastated but time is a great healer. As you get a little bit older, other things become more important. When you've hit rock bottom like I did and come out the other end, I'm just thankful that I'm here now.'

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He adds: 'I saw Joe Cortez one time in Las Vegas. He said "hiya champ" and I said "f*** off". That was at the time when I was still bitter. I think if I saw Joe Cortez now in Las Vegas and he shook my hand, I'd shake his hand and give him a hug because I'm past it now. All the bad stuff nearly killed me, (but) I look back at it with pride now.'