By Mark Vester
Matthew Hatton (37-4-1, 14KOs) plans to step away from his older brother's shadow on Friday night in Stoke. In the main event of a card promoted by older brother Ricky Hatton, Matthew plans to make a name for himself by beating IBO welterweight champion Lovemore Ndou. Matthew has been training under Lee Beard for the last 18 months. He says the best thing that he did for his own career was to dump former trainer Billy Graham and hire Beard.
“When you look at my record I’ve had four defeats,” Matthew told the Times Online. “but I only feel I’ve been legitimately beaten once and that was against Craig Watson last year. I don’t blame anyone but myself for that but I wasted a lot of years training with Ricky at Billy Graham’s gym. I enjoyed training with Ricky but Billy was doing nothing with me. I was almost training myself."
“So after the Watson defeat I thought, ‘I’m going nowhere here. I’ve got to do something for myself now’ and I left the gym and joined Lee Beard. I’ve had four good wins since the move and feel my career is just starting.”
Matthew is a decent underdog in the fight. Most predict the veteran Ndou will be too much for him. But the younger Hatton says the fight will be a coming out party. He plans to make the most of it the opportunity by proving the critics wrong.
“This shot has come out of the blue for me but I have to make the most of it. The last time I looked I was a 4-1 underdog, which is big in boxing, but this will be a coming-out party for me. I look at the internet sometimes and you get these armchair critics sat at home in front of their laptops asking, ‘What’s he doing here?’ but I’m not going to let them bother me,” Matthew said.
Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingvester@gmail.com
