By Terence Dooley
Matthew Hatton’s rise to the European welterweight title has left a disgruntled local boxer in its wake. Craig Watson, who handed Matthew a points defeat at the City of Manchester Stadium in May 2008, believes that Hatton, 40-4-2 (15), should look to a local derby rematch and can talk of world title tilts once he’s taken care of local business.
“They are talking about him fighting for world titles and he’s not even the best welterweight in Manchester, I think I am,” said Watson when speaking to the Tameside Advertiser. “I’ve beaten some really good lads and I really deserve a shot at something. It’s disheartening when watching someone like Matt overtake me.”
Matthew, however, may argue that he has mixed in better company during recent fights and that Watson, 27, has made a name for himself in the light-middleweight division, where the 27-year-old won the Commonwealth title by knocking out Badru Lusambya in two rounds.
Watson, 18-3 (8), was plagued by inactivity after the win over Matthew; he didn’t box for a year, losing his Commonwealth title to John O’Donnell when he finally made his return, and has since rebuilt his career under Ricky Hatton’s promotional banner.
Ricky, though, hinted in his Tameside Advertiser column that Matthew would be moved onto bigger things in his next fight. He wrote: ‘Matthew did it (defended his EBU title) the hard way, getting knocked down for the first time in his career in the opening round (against Yuriy Nuzhnenko), only to climb back up and regain his title. Watching from ringside, I was worried that Matthew had broken his jaw, but fortunately this proved to be just a swelling. I am now working with my team for a big fight for Matthew in the autumn, so watch this space.’
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