By Liam Santiago: Matthew Hatton reacted angrily after being held to a draw against International Boxing Organization champion, Lovemore N’Dou. Hatton believed he did enough to win the fight although at times he was getting dominated. Lovemore N’Dou dominated in the early rounds and Hatton had no response. It was only in the latter rounds that Hatton came up with an answer and it was all too little too late.

On my scorecard the bout was also a draw, I had it six a piece. At certain points Hatton was getting hit with flush eight and nine punch combinations and giving nothing back. Remember N’Dou is 38 so it is only natural that he will fade in the late rounds. N’Dou was the one throwing the more precise punches and he was the one that was catching the judges eye. If anyone deserved the win it was N’Dou.

After the bout, Hatton reacted angrily saying, ”I don’t care what Lovemore says. I won that fight. I thought I more than nicked it, I thought I won it by three or four rounds”. I can understand Hatton’s anger. In the build up Lovemore had called him a donkey on a race horse’s track etc. Hatton planned on coming out and proving everyone wrong but he just didn’t do enough against a fighter in his latter years who is not at his peak.

N’Dou said, ”He gave me a lot tougher fight than I expected, but I thought I was always in control of the fight.”

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Hatton and N’Dou fight to a 12 round draw

By William Mackay: Matthew Hatton (37-4-2, 14 KO’s) failed in his attempt to win the little known IBO welterweight title against champion Lovemore N’Dou (47-11-2, 31 KO’s), fighting to a 12 round draw at the Fenton Manor Sports Complex, Stoke, Staffordshire. The final judges’ scores were 115-114 for Hatton, 115-114 for N’Dou and 114-114 even.

I had Hatton winning eight rounds to four. Hatton was the aggressor throughout the fight, landing the more numerous punches in most of the rounds. N’Dou rarely let his hands go and was limited to a few flurries in several of the rounds. N’Dou was the harder puncher, but the 38-year-old was unable to pull the trigger enough to win many of the rounds.

Hatton didn’t exactly shine either, as he looked very slow, lacked any power and clinched constantly. Although I think Hatton should have won by at least four rounds, something that he agreed with after the fight, I don’t think he looked anything like a top 15 contender. However, I still think Hatton should have won this fight by a clear margin.

Hatton, 28, did a little better than N’Dou in the 1st round, landing some sloppy looking right hands and clinching constantly. In the 2nd round, Hatton was cut over his left eye after clashing heads with N’Dou. Again, Hatton was the busier fighter and landed more shots.

N’Dou tagged Hatton with several good left hooks during the round, but it wasn’t enough to make up for all the shots that Hatton was landing. In the 3rd round, N’Dou fought well, hitting Hatton with big shots and outworking him.

In the 4th and 5th rounds, Hatton got the better of N’Dou, who was again having problems letting his hands go. N’Dou came back strong in the 6th and backed Hatton up with some hard shots to the head. However, N’Dou looked tired in rounds seven through ten, and was outworked by the younger Hatton. In the 11th and 12th rounds, Hatton seemed to act as if the fight was in the bag and backed off.

N’Dou, who I had way behind in the fight by this time, went after Hatton hard in both rounds trying to score a knockout. N’Dou rotated his right hand as if threatening to land a bolo punch in the 12th. He succeeded in landing some hard looping shots.

However, Hatton wasn’t fazed by them and did a good job of clinching his way out of the round. It didn’t look good on Hatton’s part that he wasn’t able to stand and trade shots with the older N’Dou in the final two rounds, and this may have accounted for N’Dou being able to get the draw.

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In an exciting fight on the undercard, middleweight Paul Samuels (20-7-2, 12 KO’s) stopped Cello Renda (18-8-1, 11 KO’s) in the 3rd round in a fight that turned out to be much more exciting than the Hatton-N’Dou bout. Samuels, 36, came out fast pressuring Renda. However, Samuels walked into a big left hand and was knocked down early in the 1st. However, late in the same round, Samuels hurt Renda with two hard right hands to the head.

In the 2nd round, both Renda and Samuels connected with left hooks at the same time with both fighters ending up on the canvas in mutual knockdowns. Before this, I’d never seen a case of two fighters being knocked down at the same time.

Renda got up immediately and was ready to continue fighting. However, Samuels was hurt and needed more time to get up from his knockdown. Renda was cut on the side of his left eye in the round. In the 3rd round, Samuels looked like the much fresher fighter as he attacked Renda, landing hard shots. Renda backed up to the ropes where Samuel raked him with shot after shot until referee Terry O’Connor stepped in and stopped the bout at 0:37 of the 3rd.