By William Mackay: In what promises to be a ridiculous mismatch, undefeated Kell Brook will be taking on fringe welterweight contender Matthew Hatton tonight in a 12 round bout labeled “War of the Roses” at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshure, UK. If you’re into watching someone get pummeled from round one to round 12 in a completely one-sided fight then this is the fight to watch.

Hatton, 30, the younger brother of former two division world champion Ricky Hatton, has no chance of winning this fight and will be little more than a heavy bag for the more talented Brook to work over.

Forget about the mismatch in the main event, there are several other mismatches on the undercard with Commonwealth super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton (12-0, 8 KO’s) facing an overmatched Prosper Ankrah (18-2, 13 KO’s) on the undercard, welterweight Adnan Amar (25-1, 7 KO’s) facing Lee Purdy (16-3-1, 9 KO’s) for the vacant English welterweight title, unbeaten European Boxing Union middleweight champion Grzgorz Proksa (26-0, 19 KO’s) facing a fighter with no hope Kerry Hope (16-3, 1 KO’s) and middleweight John Ryder (9-0, 6 KO’s) vs. Alastair Warren (8-1-1, 4 KO’s).

Brook is a flawed fighter with limited reach and hand speed. However, he’s a lot better than Hatton and there’s no real way of understanding an eight year pro like Brook still facing guys like Hatton at this advanced stage in his career. Brook seems to have failure to launch because his career is being run at a snails’ pace and he’s wasted already a good four years facing 3rd tier opposition when he should have been facing world class opposition. It could have a stunting effect on Brook’s career in terms of his development, as well as the wasted time in general in having him giving up four years of his career fighting nobodies.

Brook will win this fight tonight and prove nothing other than he can beat a fringe contender that he should have already fought four years ago, not going into his 9th year as a pro. I can’t get excited about this fight because it’s such a waste. It’s like staying in the 6th round for three years to see how much better you can do against the other students.