SAUL “CANELO” ALVAREZ VS. MATTHEW “MAGIC” HATTON
ON MARCH 5 AT ANAHEIM’S HONDA CENTER
Only days to go before Alvarez and Hatton square off in a 12 round junior middleweight bout presented by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Canelo Promotions and Hatton Promotions and sponsored by Cerveza Tecate, DeWalt Tools and Tres Generaciones
In 2010, fight fans saw the emergence of both Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Matthew “Magic” Hatton onto the world boxing scene, with the two contenders combining for a 9-0 record with six knockouts. On Saturday, March 5, at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., these two fighters will collide with only one moving on to the next level.
Tickets are still available but going fast are priced at $200, $125, $75, $50 and $25. Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster locations, online at ticketmaster.com and via charge-by-phone at 800-745-3000. Tickets will be available for sale at the Honda Center Box Office beginning Monday, January 24 at 10:00am PT.
Last year’s breakout star, Guadalajara, Mexico’s Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (35-0-1, 26 KO’s) earned ESPN.com’s prestigious 2010 Prospect of the Year award the old-fashioned way…with his fists. Keeping a busy schedule that saw him in the ring five times and during which he captured the WBC super welterweight silver title, the 20-year-old Alvarez followed a March defense of his NABF welterweight title against Brian Camechis with successive knockout victories over world-class foes Jose Miguel Cotto, Luciano Cuello and former World Champion Carlos “Tata” Baldomir. His win over Baldomir was only the second knockout ever scored against the iron-chinned former welterweight champ. Alvarez ended the year by defending the belt with a 12-round decision over another former world champion in Lovemore “Black Panther” N’dou and now sets his sights on Hatton.
The younger brother of former World Champion Ricky Hatton, Matthew “Magic” Hatton (41-4-2, 16 KO’s) has carved out a niche for himself in the boxing world with his gritty determination and exciting fight style. A veteran of more than 10 years in the professional game, Manchester, England native Hatton, like Alvarez, broke new ground in 2010 with a series of stellar performances that saw him defeat former two-time world title challenger Gianluca Branco for the vacant EBU welterweight championship and then defend his new belt against Yuriy Nuzhnenko and Roberto Belge, two fighters who owned a combined 55-1-2 record coming into their fights with Hatton. On March 5, the 29-year-old Hatton is confident that he will put the first “1” in his opponent’s loss column.
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
