Hatton survives early scare / Murray claims Commonwealth crown

Matthew Hatton recovered from a first round knockdown to produce a career best performance in retaining his European welterweight title with a unanimous points victory over world rated Ukrainian Yuriy Nuzhnenko at Bolton Arena on Friday night. All three ringside judges made Hatton a comfortable winner by arguably flattering margins. Austria’s Franco Siminale had it far too wide at 117-110 whilst Bulgarian official Vencislav Nikolov and Holland’s William Verwizs both ruled in favour of Hatton at 116-111. In contrast, BoxRec News had it draw.

Hatton (10st 6 12oz), making the first defence of his European crown that he won against Gianluca Branco in Dagenham in March, got off to the worst possible start, when he was caught and felled by a sweeping left hook towards the end of the opening round. Hatton rose groggily at three but was given additional time to recover beyond referee Massimo Barrovecchio’s mandatory eight-count as Nuzhnenko (10st 6) received a ticking off from the Italian official for failing to retreat into a neutral corner.

It bought Matthew some vital time and he was able to return to his corner without further alarm following a turbulent first session. Sensing an early finish, Nuzhnenko continued to walk Hatton down but became a little too left-hook happy in round two. Occasionally, the challenger connected but with only 14 stoppages from his 30 wins he could never be classed as a concussive puncher.

Hatton sensibly adjusted his tactics in round three by getting off first with snappy one-two combinations to give Nuzhnenko more to think about as he came rushing in. A jab, right hand and left hook combination from Matthew was much more like it but the visitor responded with two uppercuts in close which jolted Hatton’s chin. Since coming under the direction of veteran trainer Bob Shannon the improvement in Hatton is there for all to see. Better punch variety, footwork and handspeed are now established trademarks of the younger Hatton brother.

By the fourth Hatton had found his groove and began to nail the over-eager Nuzhnenko with left hooks to the temple and right hands over the top. Given his first round troubles, this was an excellent response from Matthew. Nuzhnenko switched his focus to the body in round five but was nailed by a crunching straight right from Hatton in what was his best punch of the fight.

After enjoying success at long range Nuzhnenko tried to draw Hatton into a more close quarters battle in the sixth but tended to smother his work. Matthew, refusing to be dominated, stormed out of the clinches and crashed home a succession of right hands as the Ukrainian challenger continued to struggle with the Manchester man’s superior handspeed.

The pattern continued in rounds seven and eight as Hatton repeatedly scored with crisp, eyecatching two-fisted combinations which left Nuzhnenko badly swollen under both eyes and grazed on his forehead. After appearing as though he was going to coast home, Matthew went off the boil in the final third of the fight which handed the initiative back to Nuzhnenko. All too often the action was frequently halted in the latter stages thanks to tape coming loose on the boxers’ gloves (Nuzhnenko on three separate occasions, Hatton once) and from some over zealous officiating from the Italian referee who issued warnings to both men for the merest of transgressions.

Maybe this was to blame for the disruption in Matthew’s rhythm? Whatever the reasoning, Nuzhnenko finished much the stronger of the two and, certainly on my card, made things much closer. By the eleventh Hatton was starting to look tired as he missed with a wild overhand right which subsequently saw him backed up to the ropes following a burst of pressure from Nuzhnenko. Two further rights to the side of the head had Matthew wanting to hold on for the first time since the opener.

Both fighters typically put everything into a spirited final round but it was Nuzhnenko who edged the session on workrate and better accuracy as Hatton’s work became more ragged.

Regardless of the slightly lopsided scoring, what is indisputable however is that Hatton’s performance proves that he belongs in European class and his impressive victory may eventually lead him to what once seemed an improbable world title opportunity. In Nuzhnenko, Hatton was facing a man only beaten once in 32 fights, whose only defeat had come against fellow Ukrainian Vyacheslav Senchecnko when challenging for WBA world welterweight crown last April.

At 34, Nuzhnenko still harboured plenty of ambition and arrived in Bolton with the definite intention of returning home with the EBU title but will return home empty-handed.

In the chief support on this stacked Hatton Promotions bill which began at 6.30 and closed at a quarter-past midnight, Martin Murray claimed his first championship when registering a workmanlike unanimous points decision to capture the vacant Commonwealth middleweight crown against Australia’s Peter Mitrevski Jr.

Roared on by his passionate St.Helens following, all three judges were in agreement that the 27-year-old had banked practically every round en-route to his 20th successive win. Both Phil Edwards and Howard Foster had it a shut-out 120-108 for Murray whilst John Keane gave the Mitrevski a share of one round as he returned a verdict of 120-109.

Despite coasting to a convincing win on the judges’ scorecards, this wasn’t Murray (11st 5) at his best and one senses that the unbeaten St.Helens fighter can perform better than he showed here. Both boxers unhelpfully wore black and red shorts and sported shaven heads but Murray’s work was much more noticeable in the early stages as he picked some nice right hands to penetrate Mitrevski’s guard.

Sometimes voluntarily, other times to avoid Murray’s attacks, Mitrevski (11st 5) backed to the ropes but Murray was unable to place the Aussie under any sustained pressure and land with his potent body shots. Murray’s better accuracy swept him the first four rounds but Mitrevski, who appeared slightly fleshy around the midsection, began to stand his ground more in the fifth but never made a serious impression. As Mitrevski attempted to come forward he was countered by a perfectly picked right hand from Murray who followed up with a left hook downstairs.

Having reached the halfway stage in a comfortable lead, one wondered if Murray could become only the second man to stop Mitrevski after reigning IBF middleweight champion Sebastian Sylvester. Mitrevski, whose cheekbones were bruised from Murray’s assaults, was knocked off balance by a body shot in round seven and had to ship three follow-up right hands as Murray’s fans roared their approval as their man continued to boss proceedings.

Mitrevski almost seemed to accept that he was second-best at this point and elected to go into survival mode for the rest of the contest which made it harder for Murray to find the openings. The contest became scrappy and repetitive from round eight in which referee Dave Parris warned both men for careless use of the head, usually initiated by Mitrevski.

Despite being subjected to some roughhouse tactics, Murray maintained his composure and scored with a right hand, left hook to the body which drew an angry response from Mitrevski who thought that Martin’s body shot had strayed low in round ten.

Occasionally, as in the eleventh, Murray was briefly flummoxed by Mitrevski’s handspeed as the Aussie landed with a three punch combination. Peter’s fleeting attacks were not enough to disrupt Murray for long however I did award the final round to the tough Aussie who looked capable when he let his hands go.

With his first title now strapped around his waist Murray, trained by Oliver Harrison, can build from here but would probably benefit from a couple of defences at this level first.