By Scott Gilfoid: Former EBU welterweight champion Matthew Hatton (42-5-2, 16 KO’s) sees highly ranked and unbeaten Kell Brook (26-0, 18 KO’s) as a flawed and vulnerable fighter going into their March 17th fight at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, UK. Hatton doesn’t see himself as the underdog in the fight even if the rest of the world clearly does.

Hatton told Sky Sports Ringside “I know when things get tough, I can step it up another level. I think there’s a lot of questions to be asked of Kell Brook. I think I’m going to be the bigger man asking them on the night.”

It’s hard to take Hatton as a serious threat to beating Brook, as Hatton wasn’t able to step into another gear in his lopsided 12 round decision loss to then 20-year-old Saul Alvarez last year. It’s all well and good that Hatton was able to take a tremendous pounding for 12 rounds in that fight, but he still lost the fight by a lopsided 12 round decision. What good is it if you’re just going to be a human punching bag against a guy with short arms? I don’t think Hatton has another gear to shift into. What we saw of him in his lopsided decision loss to Alvarez IS Hatton in his highest gear. If the guy had another gear I’m sure he would have revealed in that fight, because the whole world was watching it and Hatton was really dominated in that one.

Brook is beatable, but it’ll take a guy with long arms to do it. Hatton looks to have the longer arms but he doesn’t have a great jab and he moves like he’s trudging through foot deep mud. The guy is a plodder big time and to beat a fighter like Brook, you got to move around and jab him silly from the outside. Brook has got get close to do his work and you can’t let him get his range.