BOXING WELTERWEIGHT BOUT: THE FUTURE beckons for Ricky Hatton and it is both lucrative and daunting.

The Englishman was among the 17,000 spectators who witnessed Manny Pacquiao demolish Oscar De La Hoya, sending the golden boy of American boxing into probable retirement, and like everyone else who walked from the MGM's Grand Garden Arena into the Las Vegas night he bore the startled look of a man who could hardly believe what he had just seen.

"Magnificent" was how Hatton summed up a performance that saw the Filipino undress De La Hoya for eight rounds before the referee, acting on the wishes of the American's corner, called the proceedings to a humanitarian end.

The victor left the venue, metaphorically at least, on the shoulders of his grateful homeland, where he is a national monument in flesh and blood. The loser left in an ambulance, heading to the nearest hospital for a check-up.

In truth, Pacquiao's effort was more than magnificent, but while others will be happy to toss around superlatives for months to come, Hatton could not afford the luxury of being too impressed because the day is coming when he will be tasked with stopping a fighter who, on this evidence at least, appears unstoppable.

If everything goes to plan - not always a wise assumption in the fight business - the Englishman will step into the ring against the Filipino some time next year with up to €30 million on the line.

"I'll go to England to fight Hatton, no problem," Pacquiao said when asked about the prospect. "But I'm just a fighter. I leave (match-making) to the promoter."

In the Filipino's case, the promoter is Bob Arum. While he was making all the right noises ("Why not? It's got to be the number one on the drawing board") he was not exactly unequivocal.

Stepping into the ring a heavy underdog, Pacquiao was lighter and shorter than his opponent on Saturday, almost comically so. But it did not take long for the mirth to subside, about 30 seconds in fact. That was how long it took the Filipino to land a couple of dazzling combinations, neither of which was met with any meaningful response from De La Hoya.

The tone was set, and as the night progressed it became ever more discordant for the 35-year-old American who was tagged time and again by his faster opponent and could only muster the occasional solitary shot in response, very few of which found their target, never mind inflicted serious damage.

By the fourth round De La Hoya's left eye had begun to close and his handsome features had taken on the colour of a bruised tomato. Pacquiao was rampant, cocky enough to make light of any of the American's punches that did land and talented enough to pick off his opponent at will.

By the sixth round De La Hoya's humiliation was complete, the only question being when it would end. Happily, the answer was sooner rather than later. After torrid seventh and eighth rounds, the American staggered back to his corner to be met with the news that his trainers had no wish to watch him suffer such indignity any longer. The proud fighter, winner of world championships in six weight divisions, was not inclined to disagree and walked across the ring to embrace the man who had given him the beating of his life.

Meanwhile, Britain's Amir Khan insisted his world title aspirations had been revived by his explosive, two-round demolition of Ireland's Oisín Fagan at the London ExCeL.

Fagan was viewed as a durable opponent who would survive until the later rounds, but he never had the power to trouble Khan in a brutally one-sided contest.

A short right hook early in the first round spelt the beginning of the end as the impressive Khan began rebuilding his career.

But Audley Harrison's unlikely heavyweight world title aspirations were left in tatters after Belfast cabbie Martin Rogan beat him on points.

The Olympic gold medallist paid the price for a negative and lazy display that handed the aggressive and crudely effective Rogan victory on a plate.

Harrison landed freely with his right hand in the second round but Rogan began roughing him up and stunned the Wembley southpaw with a crisp left hook in the fourth.

In the eighth a right uppercut sent Harrison, whose caution and constant holding prompted jeers from the crowd, reeling, and Rogan did enough to stretch his flawless record to 11 victories.

• Guardian Service