By Alexey Sukachev
At Bolton Arena in Bolton, England, WBA #15 Matthew Hatton (40-4-2, 15 KOs) produced one of his finest performances in years and ultimately got the better of the former WBA welterweight master Yuri Nuzhnenko (now 30-2-1, 14 KOs) to retain his European (EBU) crown for the first time.
Fighting in front of a partizan crowd, which included his mother, his brother and his starry brother Ricky (who arranged this fight as a promoter), Hatton was shocked badly in the very first round, as aggressive Ukrainian guest landed a major left hook on his jump in to floor a local hero. Matthew got up but was pretty wobbly and also rather lucky to survive till the bell. He was also aided a bit by referee Massimo Barrovechio, who prevented Nuzhnenko to go at it immediately after a knockdown.
Dropping the second stanza as well, Hatton resurged himself in the third and from that moment on it was Matthew's almost all the way till championship rounds. WBA #10 Nuzhnenko marched forward with a clear plan to get a room for his wicked left hook. However, he used almost no right hands on his way in, did even less with his left jab and ate numerous right hands and jabs on his way in. He was also unprepared for Hatton's sudden counters. Rounds three to ten were more or less in Brit's favour, while Nuzhnenko failed to apply plan B if it had been one, and ate a huge right hand in the ninth.
Sensing the fight is slipping away, the Ukrainian incrased his punch output in the eleventh and gave Hatton some really rocky moments in both of the championship rounds. However, Matthew Hatton finished the job in style taking the last minute of the contest with a frightening ease.
At the end, all three judges gave an edge to the defending champion with scores: 117-110 (Franco Ciminale) and 116-111 (Vencislav Nikolov and Robert Verwijs). BoxingScene.com had it a bit closer with 115-113 - also for Matthew Hatton who continues his way up.
