By Chris Williams: EBU welterweight champion Matthew Hatton (41-4-2, 16 KO’s) is going to be taking a considerable step up in competition next month against 20-year-old World Boxing Council (WBC) junior middleweight Silver belt champion Saul Alvarez (35-0-1, 26 KO’s) at the Honda Center, in Anaheim, California. This isn’t a step up in terms of boxing ability for Matthew, because he’s probably a much better boxer than the young Alvarez. However, what Hatton is missing is power, and that’s something that Alvarez has a lot of in great abundance.
Hatton is going to be facing a guy that’s more solidly built and who has much better strength. Alvarez literally swings for the fences with every shot he throws, and that’s worrisome for Hatton, because he’s always been a finesse type fighter. Matthew is the younger brother of former two division world champion Ricky Hatton. Matthew is looking to emulate some of the success that Ricky had in his career before stepping away from the sport after a crushing defeat to Manny Pacquiao.
Hatton is going to have to try and find a way to negate Alvarez’s crushing power if he’s to have a chance to win this fight or even get out of the fight on his feet. Matthew has a bad habit of wanting to mix it up with his opponents, and that’s okay when he was fighting Euro level fights and against domestic level opponents. However, Alvarez is a world class fighter, if only because of his big power.
Alvarez can really bring it for 12 rounds, and he carries his power late into his fights unlike some fighters that tire out and lose their strength in the later rounds. Hatton is going to have to try and find a strategy to keep from getting hit so much because Alvarez will take Hatton’s head off if he hits him one time too many. Hatton needs to hit and move, and use a lot of head movement. I would forget completely about trying to fight on the inside and throw to the body like Hatton did in his recent 3rd round KO win over Roberto Belge. If Hatton tries to go to the body against Alvarez, he’s going to leave his head exposed to Alvarez’s power shots. That wouldn’t be advisable.
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