By Nate Anderson: Fringe welterweight contender Matthew Hatton (35-4-1, 13 KOs) defeated former light welterweight contender Ben Tackie (29-11-1, 17 KOs) by a 10-round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The final judges’ scores were 98-92, 98-92 and 97-93. Tackie, now 35, came into the fight having lost five of his last seven bouts, looked to be too small for the larger, younger 27-year-old Hatton, the brother of light welterweight star Ricky Hatton.
Tackie had problems pulling the trigger on his punches until the 5th round, starting way too slowly, and by the time that he started coming on, it was too late to make up for having given Hatton virtually all of the first five rounds of the fight. In the second half of the bout, Tackie pressured Hatton constantly, stalking him around the ring and hitting him with big body and head shots.
However, Tackie, a light welterweight for the vast majority of his career, seemed to be fighting out of his weight class and didn’t have the size to match up with the thicker, better moving Hatton.
In the 1st through 4th, Hatton outworked the aging Tackie, landing jabs and fast combinations.
Not a hard puncher like his brother, Hatton had to depend on staying busy, using movement to prevent the harder punching Tackie from catching up to him and pounding him to the body. Hatton needed little more than a jab to win the first two rounds, as Tackie was doing very little other than following Hatton around the ring and taking a lot of shots in the process.
In the 3rd round, Tackie finally began throwing a few punches, but his work rate was still for too slim to keep him competitive against the younger Hatton who landed a lot of combinations in the round. In the 5th round, Tackie made things close as he pressed forward constantly, making Hatton fight on the back foot much of the time.
Hatton looked worried during this time, as if he was about to lose control over the fight. However, Hatton threw a nice flurry at the end to win the round by a slim margin. Tackie responded well in the 6th round, backing Hatton up and hitting him hard with body and head shots.
Tackie landed some hard right hands at the end of the round, bloodying Hatton’s nose. In the 7th round, Tackie didn’t do as well, appearing tired from having expended a lot of energy in the 6th. In the old days, Tackie would have fought hard the entire fight but his energy seemed to be draining like a battery after fighting hard for a few rounds.
Hatton threw more combinations in the 7th, winning the round almost by default. Hatton, too, looked to be tiring and had lost almost all the little power that he had in his shots. He had enough left thought to still beat an exhausted Tackie in the 8th. In the 9th, Tackie came on again, pressuring Hatton and hitting him with hard body shots. Hatton turned back Tackie’s challenge in the 10th, outworking him in the round to seal the victory.