By Gareth A Davies, Telegraph
Matthew Hatton was gritty and game, but lost every round and was outweighed and outfought by the 20-year-old rising Mexican star Saul Alvarez who claimed the vacant WBC light-middleweight title at the Honda Center, Anaheim, California, early this morning. The title itself, and the weight differential has, frankly, been a farce since the title was announced over three weeks ago.
Alvarez become the youngest man to win the world title belt, the gong having previously been held by Tommy Hearns, Oscar de la Hoya, Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather Jr – and vacated by pound-for-pound superstar Manny Pacquiao last month.
Hatton is a welterweight, from the division below, but gamely took his opportunity. In many senses, Alvarez failed to do what he had pledged to do before the contest; namely, to KO or stop Hatton. The Mexican, who moved to 36 wins, one draw, hadn’t banked on the toughness and obduracy of Hatton, younger sibling of former two-weight world champion Ricky.
Alvarez won a landslide 119-108 decision, after being deducted a point in the seventh round for hitting after being broken up by referee Lou Moret. Hatton was fighting a young, stronger, and indeed, heavier opponent. “I was in there with a great champion. He never hurt me, but I couldn’t seem to hurt him. He seemed to big for me, and I’ll move back down to welterweight, my natural weight.”
Alvarez is touted as a huge rising star, and this will be a learning curve against a durable, experienced fighter in Hatton. Great ? We really don’t know yet. This was nothing more than an extended sparring session for him, as Hatton was unable to hurt him. Alvarez appeared to tire towards the end, and was caught more often than trainer Jose Reynoso will have wanted. In many ways, this was a phyrric victory for ‘Canelo’, the flame-haired young South American who is now likely to face much stiffer opposition as he attempts to hold onto the WBC 154lb belt.
Hatton can claim great respect for making it through to the end of the championship rounds. On final analysis, a mismatch. Horrible mismatch.
Source: blogs.telegraph.co.uk
