By William Mackay: The ambitious but deeply flawed welterweight prospect Matthew Hatton (35-4-1, 13 KOs) will return to action on March 28th against the weak-punching Ted Bami (26-4, 13 KOs)at the Altrincham Leisure Centre. Hatton, 27, the younger brother of light welterweight Ricky Hatton, has had an uneven career up to this point, losing a handful of fights in his nine year career.
Most recently, Hatton defeated journeyman Ben Tackie by a 10-round unanimous decision in November. The win was easily the best of Hatton’s career, showing a glimpse of promise. Bami, 30, a former World Boxing Federation light welterweight and EBU (European) light welterweight champion and known for his losing effort in the finals of the ‘Prizefighter’ Welterweight Tournament in October, is a fighter from Congo who’s got good boxing skills but is short on power. In other words, the perfect opponent for Hatton to look good against.
Hatton resembles his brother Ricky in fighting style, except that Matthew doesn’t punch as fast or as hard as Ricky. His lack of speed and power hurt him in his 12-round loss to Commonwealth (British Empire) welterweight champion Craig Watson in May 2008.
Hatton fought poorly, throwing few punches, constantly coming forward and just taking shot after shot. Part of the problem was his horrible hand speed, which kept him from matching the speedy shots being rained down on him from the faster and more elusive Watson.
At the fight wore on, Hatton came forward as if he were going to try and make a fight of it, but instead of merely took shots in the fast and tried circling the ring. He looked as if he had no clue what to do and continued to take a one-sided beating until the end of the fight in the 12th. Having seen Ricky fight many times, it was alarming to see his brother fight so poorly using the same style of fighting as him.
What was missing, however, besides the power and speed from Matthew, was the aggression that Ricky typically brings to the ring with him. Matthew fought passively from the outset, looking discouraged as if he had no confidence in himself. No matter how much advice he was given in his corner between rounds, Hatton seemed incapable of applying it in the heat of the battle.
Against Tackie, Matthew fought much better, letting his hands go with regularity in the first half of the fight and overpowering the smaller Tackie with his bigger size. In the 2nd half of the fight, Tackie fought much better, bloodying Hatton’s nose in the 7th and giving him problems sporadically until the 10th.
Hatton used his combinations to get the better of Tackie in the 10th and final round, outworking him and landing some nice body shots. It was like watching a bigger, slower, weaker version of Ricky, but it was still enjoyable due to Hatton’s good technique.
If the same Hatton that fought Tackie is present against Bami, then I can see Hatton outworking him and beating Bami by a decision. But that’s a big if, because Hatton will most certainly have problems with Bami’s quicker hands and nice power shots. I expect Hatton to have enough to beat Bami, but it won’t be easy. Nothing is for Matthew, unfortunately.