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Manchester man Matthew Hatton has implied that Kell Brook’s preparation may suffer in the build-up to their fight and has warned the Sheffield man that becoming a father for the first time will hurt his quest to win the battle of Britain’s best welterweights. Hatton and Brook clash at the Motorpoint Arena on March 17 in a bout that is broadcast on Sky Sports and the spotlight will be on the unbeaten Brook in his biggest headline show to date.
Hatton and Brook could sell out the 13,500 Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, UK. Credit: Lawrence Lustig/Matchroom Sports
Hatton believes that the pressure to perform coupled with becoming a Dad for the first time could be too much for the 25-year-old. Both men are due to have baby girls in the build-up to the fight – with Kell’s partner Lindsey due in mid February and Hatton’s partner Jenna early March. But, while Hatton has already experienced training for a fight while become a father, he believes Kell’s plans could be thrown into chaos as he enters parenthood.
“Jenna and I have gone through it all before so there will be nothing new there for us,” said Hatton (42-5-2, 16ko).
“But for Kell it’s a new experience becoming a father for the first time. It’s absolutely amazing of course, but it’s a real shock and it takes some getting used to. It can be a really difficult period and it’s hard to stay focussed on the training. But sometimes in life there are more important things than boxing and being a father is one of them. When you bring kids into the world you have to provide for them so it’s a motivation for the training and the fight as you are doing it for their future.”
Jenna is due to give birth to a baby girl on March 4, just 13 days before he meets Brook (26-0-0, 18ko) in the huge domestic 147lb clash. Hatton has been in this situation before when Jenna was carrying their son Jack as he was preparing to face Craig Watson for the Commonwealth title in Manchester in 2008: “It wasn’t a great performance against Craig,” admitted Hatton. “Jack was about three months old then so it was a difficult time and it definitely affected my performance – and it will have an effect on Kell.”
He continued: “Our baby girl is due on March 4, but Jack was two weeks late. If she goes two weeks over with the new baby it’ll be the day after the fight, so she’s sweating a bit. Jenna’s a massive support for my career and she represented Great Britain and England in a number of swimming events so, as an athlete herself, Jenna knows the dedication involved and the pressures you are under ahead of competing. She was never a boxing fan before we met but she loves her boxing now and she’s more keen on Saturday Fight Night than me to be honest!”
Jenna has left her part-time job as a learning mentor for kids in Salford to go on maternity leave, and as she gets close to her due date, Hatton said he may be tempted to include her into to his preparation.
“She’s quite big now, I think she’s up to about Cruiserweight so we’ve been having a laugh about that around the house!” quipped Hatton. “I’m into camp now, roadwork is underway and I start sparring next week so I had a good Christmas but it’s great being back in the gym and we’re just going to start upping it and upping it as the weeks go on, but the start has been fantastic.”
Over 5,000 tickets were sold in just three days worth of sales, VIP tickets are already sold out, but £30 (tiered), £40 (tiered), £60 (tiered/floor) and £100 (ringside) are available from the Motorpoint Arena Sheffield Box Office on 0114 256 5656 or here.
Related article: Two British battles: Hatton v Brook booked and Groves v Anderson II ordered by BBBoC
Related article: Brook ‘growing into a superstar’, promoter wants Alexander, Jones or Malignaggi
Related article: Khan: I used to slap Brook around the ring in sparring
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