By Scott Gilfoid: Former EBU welterweight champion Matthew Hatton (42-5-2, 16 KO’s) gets off on being the underdog and overlooked going into his March 16th fight against No.2 WBO welterweight contender Kell Brook (26-0, 18 KO’s) at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Pretty much no one anywhere on Earth is giving Hatton a ghost of a chance in this fight against Brook, but that seems to please Hatton because he feels it will give him an extra drive to win.

Hatton told Sky Sports News “I enjoy being the underdog. I’m a stubborn character by nature and people are making me a massive underdog going into this fight. I certainly don’t see it that way.”

Yeah, I bet Hatton doesn’t. I guess he didn’t see his fight against Saul Alvarez last year as being one he was going to lose either or his fight against Craig Watson in May 2008. That’s the thing; these guys are the last to know how limited they are until another fighter like Brook shows them by giving them a beating that puts the idea in their head front and center. I mean, I don’t think much of Brook either, but he’s definitely good enough to beat a guy of Hatton’s caliber. Brook does good against light hitters like Hatton.

You put a weak puncher with little hand speed in front of Brook and he’s going to have a field day. Brook will do well against Hatton with his short pinpoint shots and his counter punching. Where Brook will have problems is when he finally takes on a guy with some hand speed and/or some arm length that knows how to fight on the outside. Brook has really short T-Rex arms and he’s got to come in close to land his shots.

Brook reminds me a little bit of David Lemieux from Canada with the short arms, decent power and woeful career opposition. I sure wouldn’t mind seeing Brook someday fight someone good, but I’m not holding my breath after watching Brook take on mostly weak opposition for eight long years. I can’t believe the guy is going on his 9th year as a pro next year and has still yet to fight anyone with a pulse.