Matthew Hatton’s bid to overcome Lovemore N’dou, the South African, and win the IBO welterweight title, ended in a draw in Stoke last night.
Hatton, 28, struggled through a scruffy bout with the former IBF light-welterweight title-holder but hoped that a strong showing in the later rounds might have edged the verdict.
The Briton, watched at ringside by his older brother, Ricky, raised his arms at the final bell, but was disappointed when the judges scored the bout 114-115, 115-114 and 114-114.
Meanwhile, Amir Khan, who has had a close-up view of Manny Pacquiao in training before tonight’s bout against Miguel Cotto, believes the Filipino will stop the Puerto Rican despite Cotto providing perhaps the biggest test of Pacquiao illustrious career.
Khan, like Pacquiao trained by Freddie Roach, is training for the first defence of his WBA light-welterweight title against Dmitriy Salita, the New York-based Ukrainian, at Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena on December 5, a bout that will be screened live on Sky Box Office.
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“Manny could stop him very quickly, because Cotto can be a slow starter,” Khan, 22, said. “If not, I think he will stop him late on. Either way, Manny has been looking very good and Cotto could struggle with the weight. He looked very dry at the press conference.”
Roach also predicted an early win, a pronouncement that led the price of a first-round victory for Pacquiao to fall from 25-1 to 8-1 because of the weight of money.