By Sean McDaniel: EBU welterweight champion Matthew Hatton (41-4-2, 16 KO’s) may end up pulling out of this Saturday’s fight with unbeaten Mexican Saul Alvarez (35-0-1, 26 KO’s) if Alvarez comes in over the 150 pound catchweight that was agreed upon for the fight. It’s kind of silly that Hatton was allowed to be given the catchweight agreement or the fight for that matter, because he’s un-ranked in the junior middleweight division and this fight will be for the vacant WBC light middleweight title.

Ricky Hatton, the brother of Matthew, wants Matthew to call off the fight if Alvarez comes in over the 150 pound catchweight limit on Friday’s weigh-in. As it is, Alvarez will lose 30% of his purse by coming in overweight, but to cancel the fight altogether would be hurting not only Alvarez but Hatton as well. It seems kind of crazy if Hatton to pull out of the fight, because he stands almost zero chance of beating Alvarez no matter what weight he comes in. It will make Hatton look bad if he decides to pull out of the fight based on Alvarez being a little over the weight limit.

This could end up being Hatton’s only real shot at a world title, because he’s pretty limited and could easily be beaten by the 2nd tier Euro opposition he’ll be facing in the future. He’d be best to take the fight with Alvarez no matter how much weight he comes in over. Hatton can continue to face European opposition but that’s not the same thing as fighting at the world level. He might want to consider that before pulling out if the Alvarez fight if the Mexican comes in over the weight limit.