Matthew “Magic” Hatton, the younger brother of Ricky Hatton, successfully won the vacant European Welterweight Title after receiving a title shot with just two weeks notice. Hatton defeated Gianluca Branco in twelve rounds via unanimous decision on Sky Sports Friday Fight Night card in Dagenham, England. The scores were 117-111, 115-113, 116-112.
While the former European Light Welterweight Champion shook Hatton with some hard right hands in the first round, Hatton was able to take total control of the fight with an energetic if mechanical performance. While Branco showed both power and cunning, mostly when throwing hard shots towards the end of several rounds, the veteran was unable to keep pace with Hatton. The younger Hatton was able to comfortably outpoint the forty-year-old Branco, peppering the Italian with jabs to the face and shots to the body. The fight stats bear witness to Hatton’s dominance, with him throwing almost twice as many punches as his opponent (828 to 461) and landing over 75 more punches than Branco (190 to 114).
The only sour note of the evening was Hatton once again failing to get full credit from the ringside judges, with two judges scoring the fight as being far more even than was the case (Amo Pokrandt’s score of 115-113 was simply absurd). While it didn’t effect the result tonight, Hatton may want to consider ways he can alter his style to better catch the judges’ eyes if he’s going to avoid a repeat of the controversy that engulfed his failed bid for the IBO crown in November.
After the fight, his brother and promoter Ricky ‘Hitman’ Hatton congratulated his brother but refused to be drawn on whether he would be returning to the ring. He attacked those who were spreading rumors about his intentions, saying that he deserved the chance to make a proper announcement in his own time.
