By Mark Vester
Welterweight contender Matthew Hatton, the younger brother of superstar Ricky Hatton, was approached for a fight with former two division champion Zab Judah. He says the first approach came after he won a decision over Ben Tackie last November. Then things got quiet for a while and he didn't hear back from Judah's people. He finally received a second approach last week and says the money Judah's people offered him was "embarrassing," so he passed on the fight. Judah wanted to fight him on May 1, the day before big brother Ricky's mega-bout with Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas. He wants to fight Judah but not at the rate he was offered.
"After the Tackie fight Judah's people approached us about the fight, and we said we were very interested, but they did not get back to us. They finally came back to us last week and wanted me to fight Zab on the Friday night before Ricky's fight. But the money they offered me was embarrassing, to fight a two-weight world champion. It's a fight I would fancy, but I am not taking a pay cut to fight someone at his level," Matthew told the Manchester Evening News.
Matthew returns to the ring on Saturday night at Cheshire town's Leisure Centre against Ted Bami in what the Manchester fighter considers to be one of the most important fights of his career. If he wins, he will return in a few short weeks on the undercard to Pacquiao-Hatton.
"I am not even thinking about Vegas, just concentrating on getting this fight won and then I will be guaranteed a world title fight if I come through without any injuries. These are exciting times but I need to do the business. I have boxed on a lot of fantastic cards, but the fights are what is important to me now, and this one is very, very important," Matthew said.
"To me a ring is a ring, whether it's in Altrincham, Las Vegas or someone's back garden. Boxing in a big arena with a lot of people watching is nice, but at the end of the day it's just about you and the other guy, and it doesn't really matter to me where it is."
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