CAMPIONE D'ITALIA, Italy -- Ubaldo Sacco of Argentina stripped Gene Hatcher of his World Boxing Association junior welterweight title Sunday, beating the American's face so badly the bout was halted in the ninth round.
Sacco, humiliated seven months ago in Hatcher's hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, gained a bloody nine rounds of revenge Sunday.
He opened a deep cut over Hatcher's left eye in the fifth round and pounded away on the wound until the ring doctor, who examined the bloody mess on three separate occasions, stopped the 15-round bout at 1 minute, 28 seconds into the ninth.
Hundreds of Argentines and Italians, who have adopted Sacco as one of their own, tried to storm the ring in a gambling casino on the shores of Switzerland's Lake Lugano.
The crush of the crowd created pandemonium until Italian policemen rushed in to restore order.
'I never felt the blows,' a jubilant Sacco said after he was somehow manhandled to his dressing room.
'My plan was to go head-to-head with him, to stay close. I knew from the last time we fought that Hatcher cut easily.'
Hatcher, in his first defense of the title he won June 1, 1984, beat the Argentine last Dec. 15 in Fort Worth in a controversially close decision which hinged on three or four points.
Hatcher, nicknamed 'Mad Dog' for his style, got in a few shots including a delivery below the belt of his Argentine rival near the end of the decisive sixth round.
Sacco crouched over in pain for a few moments, then charged back.
'My eye was bleeding badly and giving me trouble,' Hatcher said after his loss, the third in a career dating to 1981. He now stands 23-3.
Sacco accepted a cut-rate purse of only $25,000, low by championship standards, to get a chance for revenge. Hatcher made $125,000 for his nine rounds.
'I'm not surprised at all that I won,' Sacco said afterwards. 'I should have won in Texas last time anyway.
'I'm secure and proud for my friends, my family and Argentina.'
Bad blood as well as Hatcher's blood was a factor in the match, fought before a screaming audience of 700 fans.
Both fighters landed the occasional late punch after the bell had sounded in the early rounds.
Hatcher was finally ruled out of any more attempts to reclaim his fading title in the ninth when the Italian ring doctor finally stopped the fight.
Sacco, who will celebrate his 30th birthday next Sunday, moved his career mark to 47 wins, three losses and a draw.
