Ricky Hatton produced a fifth round stoppage to defeat America's John Bailey and retain his WBU light-welterweight title in Manchester on Saturday.

A packed crowd at the MEN Arena watched Hatton overpower his brave opponent with a series of devastating body blows.

Bailey was floored on several occasions inside the first three rounds.

And it was a tribute to the diminutive challenger, who insisted on fighting despite the terrorist attacks in America, that he managed to last so long.

"You have got to take your hat off to John," Hatton said afterwards.

"He could have pulled out of this fight and no-one would have blamed him. He's a true professional."

Hatton, 22, found his range early on with some meaty punches to the head and Bailey went down for the first time at the end of the second round.

Blood appeared above his right eye, and the right side of his face told the story of Hatton's powerful left hooks.

Win for Farnell

The Manchester fighter upped the punishment in the third, and Bailey went down for a third time.

Eventually, another knockdown 36 seconds into round five convinced the referee to bring the proceedings to an end.

The American, who left his homeland only a matter of hours before last Tuesday's attacks, said of Hatton: "He was stronger than I thought. He caught me with some really good shots."

Elsewhere on the card, Manchester's Anthony Farnell made a successful comeback to land the vacant WBO inter-continental light-middleweight title.

Farnell lost his unbeaten record in July but was in no danger of losing on this occasion.

He produced a telling left hook which sent Wigan's Lee Blundell sprawling and though he managed to rise, but referee Dave Parris counted him out on his feet.