European Welterweight Champion Matthew ‘Magic’ Hatton successfully retained his title against former world champion and mandatory challenger Yuriy Nuzhnenko on a Sky Sports Friday Fight Night card in Bolton, England. Hatton was knocked down in the opening round but came off the canvass to take the fight by unanimous decision with scores of 117-110, 116-111 and 116-111.
Those scores do not do justice to how close the fight was, with Nuzhnenko being the aggressor throughout the fight, constantly moving forward and looking to land a big punch like the left hook that so damaged Hatton in the first round. However after recovering from the knockdown Hatton wasn’t fazed by Nuzhnenko’s aggression and was quite content to box off his back foot, indeed too content at times. From the fourth round Hatton was consistently landing the cleaner punches, with his jab and right hand being particularly effective.
While the scorecards flattered him he was well worth the victory and looked far sharper than in his title winning fight. I had him winning the fight 115-112. Afterwards, promoter and elder brother Ricky Hatton confirmed that they will be looking for Matthew to challenge for a world title in the near future.
