By Jason Kim: Contrary to a false report floating around the internet about the Saul Alvarez vs. Matthew Hatton fight not being for the WBC vacant junior middleweight title on March 5th; it will indeed have the title on the line when these two warriors step into the ring at the Honda Center, in Anaheim, California. Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya confirmed that the World Boxing Council junior middleweight title, which was recently vacated by Manny Pacquiao, will be up for grabs for this important fight.
This is great news both Alvarez and Hatton, because it gives much more meaning to this fight than there was previously. Speaking with fightnews.com, Alvarez said “I am happy to dispute for the title…I have said this is the year that I go after big names.”
the 20-year-old big punching Alvarez is the favorite in this fight because of his punching power. He hits incredibly hard, and he’s facing a guy in 29-year-old Hatton who doesn’t have a lot of power and who has been facing British and European level fighters his entire career. Hatton is going to have immediate problems with Alvarez’s power. It won’t be so much his boxing ability that Hatton struggles with in this fight, because he’s been in with some fighters with superb boxing ability like Yuriy Nuzhnenko and Craig Watson.
However, Alvarez’s power is huge and he’s capable of producing a knockout if he lands often enough. This will be a different kind of fight for Alvarez because he’s been facing 39-year-olds recently in bouts against Carlos Baldomir and Lovemore N’dou. Hatton has more in the tank than those guys and will be able to box and move much more. Alvarez is going to have use his wheels go after Hatton if he wants to track him down and stop him.
If Alvarez can’t handle Hatton’s movement and hit and run style of fighting, we may see a big upset on March 5th. It’s not likely but it’s possible. Hatton is a very smart fighter and he could find a way to out-box the younger Alvarez and ruin his plans on trying to capture the vacant WBC junior middleweight title.
The winner of this fight is going to have their hands full, though. The #2 and #3 contenders are Alfredo Angulo and Paul Williams. Those are very tough opponents for either Alvarez or Hatton. I can see both of those guys losing to either Angulo or Williams. I know Angulo would want to go after this belt, and it would be a tough battle for Alvarez to beat a seasoned guy like Angulo at this early stage in his career.
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