Matthew Hatton v Yuriy Nuzhnenko
Anyone who had a more popular sibling at school would know what Matthew Hatton goes through, and for a while he looked destined to be known his whole career simply as “Ricky’s little brother”.
To the majority he probably always will be, but for boxing fans he has begun to carve out a little niche for himself and tonight he defends his European welterweight title against Yuriy Nuzhnenko at Bolton Arena.
With no amateur pedigree, Hatton effectively lived off his brother’s reputation fighting nobodies on his undercard at places like the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Then in March of this year ”Magic” showed the world what he could do and made a big break through with a superb unanimous points victory over Gianluca Branco to clinch the EBU welterweight title to step out of his brothers shadow.
It was a tough night’s work for Hatton who had to overcome a wily performance from the veteran Italian. Hatton isn’t an all-out swarmer like his brother; he picks his shots, sits well behind a solid jab and is more of a counter puncher.
To be fair he has previously scored good wins over the likes of Ted Bami and a draw against Lovemore N’dou, but the win over Branco proved that he can summon that extra 10% above domestic level.
However if he wants the gravy train to continue then he’s got a big task on his hands tonight. In Nuzhnenko, Magic has a genuine challenge. The Ukrainian is a former WBA interim champion and former contender having fought fellow countryman Vyacheslav Senchenko in a title fight back in April of last year.
At 34 years old this will be his last chance of fighting his way back within touching distance of the elite. Known as “Real Man” he has a record of 30(14)-1-1 and the highlight of his career was the interim title win over Fredric Klose.
He has spent his boxing life fighting mainly domestic fighters; aside from Senchenko the only pugilist of notable quality he has faced was Irving Garcia when the duo fought out a draw.
As a fighter it’s hard to gauge too much of an opinion of him because he has fought mainly in his home nation.
From what has been seen of him it’s fair to say he has reasonable speed, he showed a lot of heart against Senchenko, although he perhaps looks a little heavy-fisted. You would perhaps describe him as neither poor nor excellent more ‘alright’.
This is a huge fight for Hatton and, although you wouldn’t say Nuzhnenko is world level, he is still a step up from what Hatton is used to fighting.
Perhaps it’s fair to say Branco made Magic appear better than he was because at 39 years of age his speed had gone and he wasn’t the fighter he once was. Hatton is certainly not a top-level fighter like his brother and there is a lot of quality in this division, so he does risk coming a cropper one day. However he is in the form of his life right now and will ride this rollercoaster for as long as he can and won’t give up his new standing cheaply.
Both fighters maybe limited but they are well matched and this bout could easily go the distance.
Hatton won’t get through on name alone and so Magic will need to summon a few tricks if he wants to pass the toughest test of his career.
Prediction: Nuzhnenko 10th-12th round KO
This is going to be a tight fight. Realistically both fighters are flawed but Nuzhnenko is the more experienced.
However Hatton is riding the crest of the wave at the moment, he has stepped out of his brother’s shadow and his win against Branco proved his career hasn’t been built on nepotism alone.
Hatton needs to get his jab going sharply from the off and counter punch Nuzhnenko who will probably try and beat him with pace. As the home fighter Hatton will know if he can make it the distance he will get by on the cards providing he can shade a few rounds.
It will be a true test of whether Magic actually has the ability or if he is just in a very fortuitous purple patch. He’s beaten some decent position, but now it gets serious.
The worry is Hatton’s lack of big-fight experience could see him wilt from the middle rounds when his adrenaline ebbs away, at which point Nuzehenko could press home his advantage and cause an upset.
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