Brotherly love in short supply at Hatton Towers as Matthew sees plans go up in smoke
Brotherly love is in short supply at Hatton Towers with younger sibling Matthew furious with Ricky's promotional company after finding out his supposed WBA interim title clash was never even sanctioned by the governing body.
'Magic' Matthew was set to face Ismael El Massoudi for one of the WBA's numerous straps at welterweight next Saturday - but his plans now lay in ruins. Left without a fight and with the proposed bill cancelled, Matthew seems to lay the blame clearly at the door of his promotional company - even if it is headed by his big brother.
“I’ve trained nine weeks for the fight. For it to fall through – I’m absolutely gutted," he told the Manchester Evening News.
“I could not believe how late it was getting. The venue was only booked a couple of weeks previously.
“I received my tickets two weeks before the fight. How they planned on doing the show or selling it was beyond me.”
To be fair, big brother has looked after him very well indeed so far in terms of high profile bouts, getting him title fights with Lovemore N’dou and a surprise and wholly undeserved tilt at WBC monster Saul Alvarez.
Yet this does not seem to temper his upset at current events.
“I was so confident of winning the fight,” he said. “But the way the whole thing was handled – I’m devastated.
“Certainly, I’m not happy with things at the moment.
“This was a world title fight (Hmmm - Ed.). I was assured it would be sanctioned. It’s been going on for weeks and months.
“As a boxer, all I have to do is place trust in the team around me when they guarantee that a fight is happening,” he said. “It’s all been building to this.
“I’ve only had two fights this year and I’m always in the gym. All that hard work, training and sparring – I’m gutted.
“Financially, two fights are not enough. I need to think long and hard about the future.
“Two fights in a year is not good,” he said. “I thought the Alvarez fight would be a real springboard.
“One fight in Blackpool is not good enough.”
