By Sean McDaniel: European Boxing Union (EBU) welterweight champion Matthew Hatton (39-4-2, 15 KO’s) is hoping to get a world title shot in the near future if he can get by his next opponent former WBA interim welterweight champion Yuriy Nuzhnenko (30-1-1, 14 KO’s) on July 16th at the Bolton Arena, Bolton, Lancashire. This will be Hatton’s first title defense of his EBU title, which he won by beating Gianluca Branco in March in a 12 round decision victory.

Hatton, 29, needs to make sure he doesn’t look past the 34-year-old Nuzhnenko because the two of them are pretty evenly matched. In fact, I would rate Nuzhnenko ahead of Hatton in talent but Hatton could win this fight due to his slightly better youth and because he’ll have the hometown advantage.

Hatton’s big hope is to beat Nuzhnenko and then get a world title fight against WBA welterweight title holder Vyacheslav Senchenko. This would be the ideal scenario because Hatton would have a much better chance of getting a fight against Senchenko, who some boxing fans consider to be a paper champion, than landing a fight against the other welterweight title holders Manny Pacquiao, Andre Berto and Jan Zaveck. It’s doubtful that Hatton could beat Senchenko, because the Ukrainian fighter is quite skilled, taller than Hatton at 5’10” compared to 5’8” for Hatton, and very good at using his jab to dominate on the outside.

Senchenko already beat Nuzhnenko last year, dominating him in a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision in April 2009 to capture the WBA title. A fight between Senchenko and Hatton would likely be a lot like Hatton’s one-sided 12 round decision loss to Craig Watson two years ago in May 2008. Hatton has improved somewhat since then but how much isn’t quite clear. Hatton hasn’t faced anyone as skilled as Watson since that fight and he could have problems once again if he steps up against a guy like Senchenko.

The good news for Hatton is that Nuzhnenko is a pretty basic fighter. He doesn’t move a lot, doesn’t have much power and isn’t particularly fast. He has a good jab, but fails to throw enough punches sometimes. Hatton should win this fight, because is younger and looking better than Nuzhnenko at this point. The fight could come down to cuts. Nuzhnenko, for some reason, tends to be involved with head clashes with his opponents and is either cut on his forehead or his opponents are cut up. This could be a bloodbath if he bangs into Hatton enough times with his head.